Baker Ben’s Bakery held a soft opening on Saturday, July 15 and customers lined the parking lot in anticipation of Lehigh Township’s newest must-try tasty treats.
Owner Ben Steitz is a Whitehall Township resident who got into baking at the age of 14 when his neighbor, who has been a “second mom” to Steitz, began teaching him how to make homemade pierogies, and he was instantly hooked.
From that point on, Steitz began dreaming of opening his own bakery one day, and at the young age of 25, he has finally brought those dreams to life.
Leading up to the bakery’s soft opening, Steitz faced some minor setbacks, but since he signed the lease for his bakery in March, he has been determined to get up and running.
The unit in the building Steitz is leasing was previously the Italian restaurant A Ca Mia, which allowed him to keep some of the restaurant’s equipment for the bakery, although there was still quite a lot of equipment he had to purchase and changes to make to the interior.
His plan was to open in mid-June, however he wasn’t able to start construction on the inside of the bakery until late April because the conversion had to be approved by the township.
Steitz’ final approval came mere days before the soft opening, but that didn’t stop him from making as many donuts, coffee cakes, strudels, Danishes, pastries and cookies as he could with limited ingredients and in the span of only two and a half days.
On Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m., a line began to form at the door and throughout the parking lot for Baker Ben’s Bakery’s 8 a.m. opening. It wasn’t until five hours later that the line began to shorten, and the bakery sold out of everything by 2 p.m.
Steitz and his team began baking again late Saturday evening into Sunday in preparation for the next day. After just three hours, the bakery completely sold out again after customers lined the parking lot for the second day in a row.
Steitz says he’s personally not a big sweets fan, however sweets are what he loves to make the most.
In fact, Steitz’ sweets have already left customers wanting to come back for more as many of them have expressed their intent to do so on the bakery’s Facebook group along with requests and highly rated reviews of baked goods purchased over the weekend.
Patrons can look forward to a larger variety of baked goods in the coming weeks such as cakes, cupcakes, cheesecakes, pies, brownies, donuts, Danishes, muffins, whoopie pies, cookies, cannoli, black bottoms, coffee cakes, assorted pastries and more. However, from now to the end of August, the bakery may not have as full of a variety as Steitz would like due to his team getting used to mass production, which he believes will work itself out within the next month.
Additionally, Steitz will begin making breads and rolls in mid-August and customers can also look forward to holiday items such as kiffles, cutout cookies and nut rolls from mid-October through Easter, paska bread for Easter, Irish soda bread for St. Patrick’s Day, fasnachts for Fasnacht Day, dog treats and CBD items.
On Saturday, August 26, Baker Ben’s Bakery will hold their grand opening with a full variety of the things Steitz will offer at the bakery, as well as a food truck, games for kids, samples and fun for everyone.
“I plan for it to be a fun day to spend with the community and getting to know everyone,” Steitz shared.
Baker Ben’s Bakery is located at 4330 Lehigh Dr. in Walnutport at the Lehigh Town Center. The bakery will be closed Mondays and Tuesdays, but customers can pick up orders on Tuesdays since Steitz and his team will be at the bakery for production. The bakery requests that special orders be made at least one week in advance. Their hours of operation will be Wednesdays and Thursdays from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fridays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
