(802) 555-0173
Order ahead

Since 2014

A bakery that grew a café around itself

Twelve years on Church Street, three rooms, one bench and a fairly stubborn view about what should be made here rather than delivered in a bag.

  • 4:40 amThe ovens come on
  • 1,180Croissants a week
  • 3Cafés in Chittenden County
  • 12 yrsOn Church Street
Sunny café with modern decor, featuring colorful art and natural elements.
The Church Street dining room on a Tuesday

How it actually happened

People enjoying meals and coffee outside a café with a bustling sidewalk scene.
The original storefront, three expansions ago2014

It started in a front window

Rosalind Achebe came back from eight years on a bread bench in Montreal, rented a narrow storefront with eleven seats, and sold croissants out of the window on Saturday mornings. That was the spring of 2014.

  • 1Eleven seats, one deck oven and a folding table for the till
  • 2Three expansions later the Church Street room holds fifty-eight
  • 3The same deck oven is still in the back, with a pencil mark on the thermometer
See the Church Street café
Baker shaping dough on a work table in a bustling San Francisco bakery.
The bench at 5:15 am, mid-laminationChurch Street

Everything still comes off one bench

Pine Street opened in 2019 and Winooski in 2023, and neither has a bakery. Every croissant, loaf and cookie in all three cafés is made on the Church Street bench and driven over before opening.

  • 1One bench, two bakers, about 1,180 croissants a week
  • 2A van leaves for Winooski at 6:10 am, every single morning
  • 3What does not sell goes to the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf at close
See the bakery counter

Four things we do not argue about

Every café says it cares. These are the four decisions that cost us money, which is the only way to tell.

  • 1

    Made here, or not at all

    No frozen dough, no par-baked anything, no bread delivered in a bag. If it is in the case it was made on our bench in this building.

  • 2

    Pay for the good ingredient

    European butter, dark amber maple, farm eggs from twenty minutes away. It costs more and it is the entire reason the food tastes like it does.

  • 3

    Nothing edible gets binned

    Every day, what does not sell goes to the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf. In 2025 that was a little over nine thousand pounds of food.

  • 4

    A job people can stay in

    Above-minimum starting pay, tips split evenly across the floor and the bench, and schedules posted three weeks out.

The people who are here at five

Six of the twenty-eight people on the payroll. The rest are on the floor, on the bench or in the van.

  • Rosalind Achebe, Owner and head baker
    Owner and head baker

    Rosalind Achebe

    Started selling croissants out of the front window in 2014 after eight years on a bread bench in Montreal. Still shapes the Saturday bake.

  • Marcus Delacroix-Hale, Kitchen lead, Church Street
    Kitchen lead, Church Street

    Marcus Delacroix-Hale

    Runs the griddle and owns the maple hash recipe. Came from a diner in Barre and has not changed the plate in six years.

  • Yuki Tamblyn, Head of coffee
    Head of coffee

    Yuki Tamblyn

    Dials the grinders three times a day and buys the beans. Spent four years behind a bar in Portland before moving east for the winters, oddly.

  • Ingrid Vasquez-Muñoz, Pastry, second bench
    Pastry, second bench

    Ingrid Vasquez-Muñoz

    Responsible for the cardamom knot, the lemon bar and the fact that the afternoon case still has something in it.

  • Thabo Nkemelu, Catering manager
    Catering manager

    Thabo Nkemelu

    Answers the catering inbox, loads the van, lights the chafers. Has never once been late to a delivery, which he will tell you about.

  • Claire Béliveau, General manager
    General manager

    Claire Béliveau

    Runs the floor at Church Street, writes the schedule for all three cafés and knows roughly four hundred regulars by name.

One day, from dark to closed

Nothing here is dramatic. It is just the order things happen in, every day, which is the only reason the case is full when you walk in.

  1. 4:40 am

    Ovens on, first trays in

    Two bakers, one deck oven. Croissants proofed overnight go in first, then the morning buns in their tins, then the loaves.

  2. 6:10 am

    The van leaves for Winooski

    The Winooski case is packed and driven over so it is full before that location opens at 6:30.

  3. 6:30 am

    Church Street opens

    Griddle at temperature, case full, first pot of drip. There are usually four people already waiting.

  4. 9:30 am

    Bread comes out

    Country sourdough, seeded rye and the milk bread pullman. They cool for an hour before anyone slices them.

  5. 10:45 am

    Soups on the board

    Tomato and white cheddar plus whatever the second soup is that day, written up and posted online.

  6. 1:30 pm

    Second cookie bake

    Maple oat and double chocolate rye go back in so the afternoon case is not picked over.

  7. 3:00 pm

    Close, and the food shelf run

    Whatever is left goes to the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, and the bakers start tomorrow's détrempe.

Two chefs working together in a commercial kitchen, preparing food.
Shift change in the Church Street kitchenSample photo

Licences, memberships and the boring part

Paperwork nobody asks about until they need it, in one place.

  • 1Vermont Fresh NetworkMember since 2015, which means a signed commitment to buying from named Vermont farms.
  • 2Vermont Health DepartmentFood safety certified kitchen, inspected twice a year, last score posted at the register.
  • 3Chittenden Emergency Food ShelfDaily donation partner since 2016. Nine thousand pounds donated in 2025.
  • 4Burlington Business AssociationMember and Church Street Marketplace tenant since the first storefront in 2014.

This is a demo website. The business, people, credentials and figures above are samples, not real records.

A top view of coffee with pastries and coffee beans, perfect for cozy morning vibes.

Come and see if any of it is true

Church Street opens at 6:30, Pine Street at 7, Winooski at 6:30. The case is fullest in the first two hours.

Order aheadFind a café

Sample pricing. Pickup is ready in 8 to 12 minutes at all three cafés.

Cookie preferences

Choose which cookies you allow. You can change this at any time from the link in the footer.