The Baker Next Door opens in downtown Redwood City

The European-style bakery cafe, located at 851 Main St., distinguishes itself with its seasonal menu and freshly baked breads, all made by hand, on-site. Currently, they’re offering a turnover with apple filling, drinks sweetened with a housemade spiced poached pear syrup, and an Asiago, olive and thyme boule. 

Though the daily work begins as early as 4 a.m., the process has been in place for days. Everything for sale was pulled out of the oven in the mornings, mixed the day before, and prepped the day prior.

More than freshly baked artisanal bread and pastries, co-owners Brian Clarke and Jenna Johnson set out with the intention of creating a neighborhood bakery.

“It’s not just bread, it’s not just coffee, it’s the hospitality,” Clarke said. 

There is little between the customer and the baking done in the back — the open floor plan is bisected by a waist level counter, exposing the entire process underway for making their menu items.

“We designed it all open so you can see what we’re doing, you can see that all of our breads are handmade, you can see the effort we’re putting into it,” Clarke said. “It is an art form, what we do. We want people to experience that and we want to share it.” 

Part of that experience means truly interacting with one another — the cafe intentionally has no outlets or Wi-Fi, incentivizing customers to instead hang for a while and disconnect. 

“We’re looking for people who want to come and have a chat and pick up a coffee and nice food,” Clarke said. 

Many of those people have heard of the new cafe through word of mouth, or by passing by on a Friday morning in recent months when the owners were hosting pop-ups as they awaited storefront renovations. 

For more than six months, these popups served as a first step into turning a garage-bakery into a full-fledged restaurant. The popularity of these popups showed Clarke and Johnson there’s a market demand for what they looked to offer, and forced Clarke into production mode. 

“As we get our feet underneath us, the business will build,” Clarke said. “What’s really encouraging … is our product is kick ass.” 

The storefront opened Aug. 13, and business has grown daily. 

“We’re busy because of word of mouth,” Johnson said. “It really happened organically, which was what we were hoping for.” 

The entire concept for the bakery and cafe was similarly organic — Clarke was literally the baker next door. 

After Johnson moved to Redwood City with her growing family, Clarke quickly began dropping off croissants and bread, often using his neighbors as “guinea pigs” for new recipes.

Clarke began baking when he was a stay-at-home dad in Brussels, and immediately connected with the European lifestyle of daily stops at the local patisserie or boulangerie. Johnson has worked in the restaurant business in close to every position possible. Together, they wanted to create something that felt like an extension of their neighboring homes. 

“I really enjoyed being a part of a restaurants, whether I was a diner or working there,” Johnson said. “I think it’s a cool place to be at, sitting at the table, and it’s an even greater place to be a part of.”  

Both maintain that family will always be first — and often they’re a part of the business as well. Clark’s daughter works the register when she’s home from college, Johnson’s mom makes the flower arrangements. 

“It was created by the community,” Johnson said. 

A new member of that “family” is lead baker Luis Lujan, who was the owners’ first hire. An expert in viennoiseries, Borges relocated from Portland to join the team.

“When someone’s passionate and wants that vision to come together and have me be a part of it and try to get it to fruition and make it a reality, it’s been a lot of fun,” Lujan said. “It’s fun because this is just the beginning. I’m excited to play some more.”

The team has high standards for themselves, following the ethos that they won’t sell anything unless they would buy it. Still, they prioritize giving themself graces during these early months. 

“One of the things I learned is that bread baking is a forgiving process,” Clarke said. “There are a lot of exactitudes and science behind it, but it’s also a sum of a lot of differences.” 

Both Clarke and Johnson are learning that opening a business is also a bit of a forgiving process. The second day the shop was open, an oven shut down midbake. It took a few weeks to figure out the right flow. Sometimes they make too much product. 

But they’re learning, and they’re doing quite well, the owners said. The shop is regularly busy and customers are excited to disconnect, eat good food and sit next to their neighbors. 

“Since opening, our processes have really started to get developed. We have some sort of flow and some sort of groove,” Clarke said. “Instead of a vertical climb, we’re at more of a 45 degree angle.”