Poulette Bakeshop in Parker, Co.

Carolyn Nugent and Alen Ramos, Owners

Company Mission 

Our mission is to provide the community with European and American-style pastries, treats, loaves of bread and quick, tasty bites of food made from ingredients sourced from local farmers, dairies and craftspeople with a massive focus on seasonality. Our dream is to become a beloved neighborhood bakehouse through warm hospitality and delicious and unique offerings bound by excellent technique where our guests can meet for a coffee and breakfast pastry, grab a sandwich on the go and gather with family and friends to enjoy genuine hospitality, multiple times a week. 

Signature Products

-The Paris-Parker, which is an homage to the iconic Paris Brest. Our version features choux pastry—playfully dubbed “horse-choux”—filled with layers of milk chocolate and hazelnut namelaka, house-made hazelnut praline, whipped vanilla bean cream, crunchy roasted hazelnuts, and is embellished with edible gold leaf for good luck! We created the Paris-Parker for our highly supportive community of Parker, which touts a bustling equestrian network. 

–Stuffed Croissants  – Our “Stuffies” started as a simple idea of the Croissant à la Crème but soon evolved into more complex compositions of harmonious flavors and textures. As it is early summer, our focus is on fresh, seasonal fruits and creams. We enjoy creating a connection to traditional French pastries through ingredients and compositions, such as a classic Fraisier featuring layers of almond pain de gênes, strawberry cremeux, fresh strawberry jam & compote and whipped vanilla ganache montee, all layered into one of our classic butter croissants.

–XL Macarons – Our macarons are unique, because of their generous size (around 3” across) and thoughtful flavor profiles. Each macaron flavor that we create has at least two cohesive filling components, such as a ganache and a jam, caramel or praline, as well as a possible textural component, such as bits of nougatine, toffee, dragee nuts or tempered chocolate. We think of our macarons as a full pastry experience, instead of a one-note bite.

Production Tip

With limited space like ours, we have learned about the importance of standardizing our recipes with the ability to adjust the batch size and yield depending on the projection of the day or week’s sales. Making these on-the-fly adjustments not only helps with keeping our production schedules flowing smoothly, but also truly almost eliminates waste in our shop. Over-producing can be an achilles heel in many shops, leading to waste and inefficient production times. Committing to baking fresh each morning with the intention of selling out each day has worked well for our business model.

Equipment ‘Must-Haves’

Poulette Bakeshop opened during the pandemic when baking equipment was notoriously difficult to secure because of issues with manufacturing and shipping. We opened our doors with the bare minimum equipment needed. We purchased 80% of our equipment. Retail area and smallwares were purchased at a highly reduced price through local auctions. A few must-haves for us were separate convection and deck ovens, a spiral mixer for bread production, a sheeter and a multidropper/dough depositor for large batter and soft dough production. We also predominantly use induction heating elements, which keep our production space tidy and cool.

Secrets of Success

We begin each day with the intent to succeed. To us that means practicing healthy and sound leadership, creating an environment for our team to thrive and being able to recognize the team’s professional growth through mentorship and training. We place the highest level focus on hospitality – both internal and external. After over 20 years of working side by side in the most elite kitchens of the world, we are able to trust one another with the whole of our business.

Future Goals

Longterm, we would love to expand our business internationally when the correct opportunity presents itself – but only when we have reached a level of stability to do so without compromising the quality of our product. For the midterm, we would love to offer in-person classes to our community and potentially author a cookbook or pastry manual for professionals and enthusiasts. For the short term, our focus is to continue to focus on the work/life balance for ourselves and for our wonderful team – and to get through the holidays for the best year yet.

For more info, visit www.poulettebakeshop.com

(This article appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of Pastry Arts Magazine)