Monica Beaudoin is a formally-trained baker and pastry chef. Her sister, Alex Pilon, has a passion for flowers and floral arrangements. Together, they’ve merged their shared interests as Bloom Bake Shop, a new business on Hartford’s Pratt Street.
“We love all things local, floral, and baked,” the sisters note in an introduction on Bloom’s website.
Beaudoin, who graduated from Johnson & Wales’ culinary program, always had a dream to open a bakery and coffee shop, she said. She originally started the business in 2020, first working out of a commercial kitchen space in Hartford’s Swift Factory and selling baked goods at farmers’ markets and other pop-up events. Pilon and their father, Rich Beaudoin, joined the business a year later.
“We started seeing a lot of synergies, because Monica makes a lot of wedding cakes, and often times, brides were asking for flowers to decorate the cakes,” Pilon said.
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A wedding cake with fresh flowers by Bloom Bake Shop in Hartford, which recently opened a storefront on Pratt Street.
Courtesy of Bloom Bake Shop
They opened the Bloom Bake Shop storefront on Pratt Street Aug. 25, offering freshly-baked pastries, coffee and espresso drinks and a flower bar. Bloom sells small and large arranged bouquets and bud vases, and the sisters said customers will treat themselves to floral pick-me-ups, bringing the flowers back to their work desks or dorm rooms.
Pilon sources most of the flowers from the Connecticut Flower Collective in Meriden, she said, a group of nearly 30 farms in Connecticut and New York that offers locally grown specialty cut flowers.
The baked goods rotate often, and the day’s best seller “depends on what the bakery smells like at the moment,” Monica Beaudoin said – it could be pumpkin bread, or cinnamon rolls. Breakfast pastries include scones and muffins, and as morning stretches into afternoon, the offerings trend toward dessert, like cookies, brownies or biscotti.
The exterior of Bloom Bake Shop in Hartford, which opened Aug. 25 on Pratt Street.
Courtesy of Bloom Bake Shop
Edible flower shortbread cookies are one of Bloom’s signature items, featuring seasonal flowers pressed into the dough. Flourless brownies are another popular seller, which Monica Beaudoin describes as “really fudgy” – and they’re also gluten-free.
Bloom handles a large amount of catering, Pilon said, offering breakfast and dessert platters and custom cakes for weddings and special events.
“Monica has a really amazing artistic side that comes out in her decorating,” she said of her sister.
The Bloom team has plans to slowly expand the menu, with a goal to add more savory items like breakfast sandwiches, salads and light lunch sandwiches. The bakery’s grab-and-go case currently offers fruit salads and charcuterie boxes, which guests have appreciated, Pilon said.
Monica Beaudoin said she’s excited for the upcoming holiday season, with plans for a large pre-order menu for Thanksgiving and Christmas: pies, desserts and breakfast pastries. The shop will also offer flower arrangements for holiday gatherings.
A tray of banana bread at Bloom Bake Shop in Hartford, which recently opened a storefront on Pratt Street.
Courtesy of Bloom Bake Shop
The sisters also plan to host cookie decorating classes and other events in their space, they said.
Pratt Street, the picturesque downtown Hartford location that’s home to several boutique businesses (and has appeared as a backdrop in a few Hallmark movies) has been the ideal landing spot for Bloom’s first storefront, Beaudoin and Pilon said.
“We feel really lucky to be in the location we’re in right now,” Pilon said. “It’s just such a beautiful facade and beautiful building. This space really just said ‘bakery/flower shop’ to us when we first saw it.”
Bloom Bake Shop
80 Pratt St., Hartford
860-670-3181
bloombakeshopct.com, @bloombakeshopct
Open Wednesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Handicapped accessible
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