As much as Hayley Derryberry wants customers to sample a wide assortment of her baked goods, from her signature bagels and sourdough breads to cookies and baguettes, she yearns for something more at Derryberry Breadery, which opens next week.
She wants her customers to feel loved.
“And I think bread makes you feel loved,” she chuckled.
For the better part of two years, Derryberry and husband Paul Porter have slowly but surely been hard at work converting the old Shannon building at the intersection of Jackson and Washington avenues into Derryberry Breadery.
Their dream reaches its next milestone Wednesday with a ribbon-cutting and grand opening celebration at 5 p.m.
“We’ll still be evolving for a long time,” Derryberry promises. “It’s just a million things to figure out.”
But the bakery’s staples — bagels and bread — will be there from the get-go.
“We’ll have our plain bagels, everything bagels, blueberry bagels and chocolate chip,” she said. “Oh, and we’ll have our everything jalapeño bagels for a little spice.”
On top of the baked goods, Derryberry will serve fresh-brewed coffee, and for the after-hours crowd, wine and draft beer.
BUT DERRYBERRY plans much more than food.
Yes, the breads are the hook to draw in customers from near and far.
But it’s the atmosphere that Derryberry hopes will convince them to return. Or better yet, sit and stay a while.
“I don’t like when I sit down someplace and feel like I’ve got to eat in a hurry, and get up and leave to open a table. What I want is a place where you can feel comfortable sitting down and really enjoy yourself.
“We wanted to encourage a social atmosphere,” she continued. “And of course, with Paul, you can’t not incorporate some kind of live music.”
The building will have two performance venues, including a large stage in the rear of the building, with the second platform near the front patio area. The patio has been fitted with a pair of large garage doors to provide ample indoor-outdoor seating.
