SARATOGA SPRINGS — Before the new Bear’s Cup Bakehouse opened Tuesday morning for its fifth day in business, a line of about 50 people stretched down the side of the building at 543 Broadway, a daily occurrence since the shop’s first day last week. Half an hour later, with dozens of customers inside in line and at tables in a converted rug store, the outside line hadn’t abated, and a steady stream continued arriving from the sidewalk, some having had to park blocks away because the on-site lot had long been at capacity.
Seven years after the original Bear’s Cup arrived in Bolton Landing for fall-to-spring seasons, the Spa City junior sibling seems an instant hit, drawn by word of mouth and a busy presence on social media showing off the bakery’s kettle-boiled bagels, croissants and other laminated pastries, cookies, breads and a coffee program that includes taps with cold brew, nitro cold brew and vanilla-oat matcha.
On Wednesday, the shop will be open for its coffee bar and pickups for holiday preorders but not regular food service. Closed Christmas Day and Dec. 26, it will start the regular schedule of being closed on Monday and open from 8 a.m. until sold out the other days of the week.
The brand was founded by Danielle and Louis DeSantis, a married couple who relocated to the Adirondacks after a decade in New York City, where they lived in Queens apartment above a bagel shop.
“We’ve been so overwhelmed with the response — grateful but overwhelmed,” Danielle DeSantis said in a phone interview Tuesday morning. She said the shop has tripled production since opening day but still can’t keep up with demand. Since Thursday, Bear’s Cup’s pastries, time-consuming to make, have been sold out by around 10 a.m., she said.
The menu is not online, which the company explains by saying, “What’s available to order is constantly rotating as we sell out and fresh items come out of the oven.” There is also no online ordering or public phone number, because, Bear’s Cup says, “During service, our entire team is focused on baking and taking care of guests in the shop.”
Tuesday’s food menu (page 1, page 2) included four kinds of bagels, seven flavors of cream cheese, 14 types of baked goods and a dozen sandwiches.