The eagerly awaited 85˚C Bakery Café opened today in Cherry Hill with initial “soft opening” hours that run from 10:00am to 4:00pm and closed on Monday/Tuesday. Hours and days will expand over the next few weeks.
I stopped in today to check out the new “absolutely going to be locally viral” bakery café, and share the experience with readers.
If you’re unfamiliar with 85˚C Bakery Café, they are fast growing global fresh bakery cafe where everything is made in-house, offering over 50 items each day from an even larger menu.
They also serve a premium Guatemalan coffee and they take their espresso so seriously… the name 85˚C comes from them believing it is the perfect temperature to serve espresso!
They also offer a variety of milk teas and smoothie drinks.
And even factoring in the high quality ingredients and taking the care and expense of baking everything fresh in-house… It is still a main goal of 85˚C Bakery Café to offer everything at an affordable price.
Which basically describes the entire creation of the brand, which started when the founder stayed at a five-star hotel and really enjoyed the fresh baked pastries and coffee but then wondered… Why does this have to cost so much? From that thought he created his own bakery cafe concept featuring a fresh and high-quality product at a reasonable price.
Originally founded in Taiwan, while they offer our more traditional American pastries, cakes and light lunch items… each day the menu offers things that you likely haven’t seen before, as they bring in items popular in other countries such as Japan, Taiwan and more.
With the rotating menu I would imagine it’s going to be a fun experience to pop in regularly to check out what new and innovative baked good or sandwiches they are offering!
In my article from earlier this month I wrote that they were planning on opening on the 21st… So they actually did very well just opening just a few days later on the 24th.
The new Cherry Hill location is located on Haddonfield Road in the large shopping center (Hung Vuong Food Market) across from the Kaminski’s Sports Bar.
The bakery building was previously a Burger King, and has been completely remodeled inside and out to be the 85˚C Bakery Café brand.
I found the cafe to be a nice and inviting remodel which offers several well lit display shelves for the baked goods, a cold grab-and-go refrigerator section, a glass display case for a variety of cakes… and of course the front counter where you pay for your items as well as order any of the hot prepared items.
There was one thing about the space that surprised me … but then once I mentally connected the dots, it also makes perfect sense. There are only two tables in the cafe.
Well, let’s keep in mind that they have a huge menu of which they pick 50 items to bake each day in the store, and everything needs to be wrapped and put on display for sale. Not to mention ingredient storage.
So when you look at the size of the building and realize it was a Burger King with a significant interior dining room… well I was somewhat expecting the cafe to offer more seating… say inline with a Starbucks. But I also completely understand that having the space to create an amazing product is key!
Over the next week and longer you can assume that 85˚C Bakery Café in Cherry Hill is going to busy… and you can also assume that you are likely going to be taking it “to-go”
As mentioned, a significant amount of the baked good items were offered in a self-service model, displayed on attractive angled shelving racks which feature lighting for each row as well as labels identifying the item.
With the items being self-service, everything was individually wrapped in a loose clear plastic. I think there were three employees solely focused on wrapping the fresh baked goods!
Closer to the counter is a self-serve refrigerator area which offers items that need to be kept chilled such as some sandwich items and drinks.
During my visit it was clear that word had already gotten out as the cafe was bustling with customers, likely from posts from Facebook’s South Jersey Food Scene!
And it seems customers were eager to try as much as they could because the two or three customers ahead of me in line each had trays filled with two dozen or more fresh baked goods, as well as ordering coffees and hot sandwiches!
Outside I had a few minutes to chat with one of the managers of the space who was very excited to open in Cherry Hill… sharing their delicious food products and more with the region.
Right now they are operating with more limited hours so that the staff can become more acquainted with the entire process… and then they will be hiring additional staff members to fill out the rest of the hours. So if you’re looking for an opportunity consider stopping at 85˚C Bakery Café!
Links and Location
85˚C Bakery Café – Expected Opening October 21st
1445 Brace Rd.
Cherry Hill, NJ 08034