John and Stephanie Vroom didn’t plan on opening a retail bakery. The duo launched Baker of Things as a wholesale business to supply sandwiches, cookies, and cakes to their five Maker Coffee shops. But when they took over the site next to Keith’s Pies on Burnley Street, Richmond, they saw potential for so much more.

“It’s a really beautiful space, it’s open and airy,” Stephanie says. “It’s got this glass sectioned off area that, as soon as we walked in, we pictured as the kitchen … with the magic happening in that hub.” The Baker of Things store was born.

The move follows a broader trend of cafes bringing baking in-house, seen with Seven Seeds’ recently launched bakery-cafe, Suburbia , and Hector’s Deli soon-to-open Hector’s Bakery . The Vrooms mainly wanted more control over their sweets. “We were looking at our cake cabinet and wanted to up the interest, finding that a lot of the offerings were, although so delicious, quite brown and standard,” Stephanie says.

And who better to up the interest than Zoe Pearce, former baking manager at Beatrix , plus head chef at Hardware Societe and the Vrooms’ first cafe, Ora ?

Baker of Things still supplies the coffee shops with toasties and pastries, but the retail store has an exclusive range of goods. Far from standard, the selection includes twisted French baguettes filled with olives, anchovies and chilli; fougasse flavoured with spinach, onion and ricotta; and traditional Greek koulouri (a ring-shaped baguette covered with sesame seeds).

There’s also a mixed seed loaf, fruit loaf, and the neighbourhood loaf, made from the sourdough starter Stephanie cultivated in lockdown. It comes in a small option too, with the “loaf for you” an ideal size for one or two people. And if you swing by around lunchtime, there’s a selection of fresh baguette sandwiches.

On the sweet side, standouts include the heart-shaped blueberry yoyo, piped full of blueberry buttercream and finished with compote in the centre; a sourdough milk bun, covered in rosy-coloured blackcurrant cream and sprinkled with hundreds and thousands; and the chocolate ganache-topped tartlet, which oozes caramel-espresso cream after each bite.

Coffee, of course, comes from Maker, with seasonal espresso blends. Currently being brewed is the Smith, with notes of stone fruit, hazelnut and brown sugar. You can take your coffee white, black or batch brewed, or opt for a hot chocolate, Prana Chai or Assembly tea.