Bakery by the Lake exceeds owner’s expectations

Bakery by the Lake owner Frank Pigott knows his customers: The businessmen who come in clumps and sip their coffee and munch pastries. The Bible study groups who meet over lunch. And the kids who rush to the display cases to gaze at the frosted cupcakes.

He greets his regulars by name and ushers first-time visitors into the bakery filled with the scent of freshly baked bread.

Warm customer service and the baked-from-scratch goods are the focus of Pigott’s business, which opened in March in downtown Coeur d’Alene.

“Everybody knows your name. It’s become the local hangout,” Pigott said of his bakery, at 314 N. Third St. “We hoped to build up a good position in the community, and we have exceeded our expectations, actually by three-fold.”

The retail and wholesale business produces an array of breads, pastries and treats and serves gourmet coffee and espresso. The bakery provides breads for about a dozen local restaurants, including the Coeur d’Alene Resort, Cafe Doma and Cricket’s Downtown Bar and Grill, Pigott said.

The bakery produces 3,000 pastries a week for retail and wholesale consumption, and it uses about 14,000 pounds of flour in a month, Pigott said. He now has more than a dozen employees, including his son and daughter.

In the coming months, Pigott said he hopes to expand the bakery with a storefront in Hayden and a storefront and a wholesale supplier in Spokane. He’s also considering offering bread-baking classes and wine-tasting gatherings, at the request of some of his regular customers.

“We offer a ‘breaducation,’ ” Pigott said. “We’re always trying to reach out and do more things.”

Bakery by the Lake is the first that Pigott has begun from scratch, but he has more than three decades of experience in the bread business. He grew up in New York City, where he remembers Saturday morning visits to the local German bakery with his uncle to buy dusted dinner rolls and sweet goodies.

Everyone has a story about a bakery, he said.

“Bakeries, food are a comfort,” Pigott said.

He began his bakery career in the 1970s as a delivery truck driver in Seattle. Since then he has worked his way through the industry in sales, business development and at the corporate level.

He grew tired of corporate business and decided to strike out on his own, Pigott said. And the market in Coeur d’Alene seemed ripe for a bakery.

“There’s a big gap (in bakery business in the area), and we’ve been asked to fill it,” Pigott said.

Bakery by the Lake regular Mark Booker agrees.

“It filled a niche,” said Booker, who is in computer sales.

Booker comes in “like every day,” he said. He’s drawn by the atmosphere, the people – and of course, the goodies.

“They have cinnamon rolls that are insane,” he said.

Seeing his customers savor the wares gives Pigott instant feedback.

“I consider myself lucky because I get a report card every day from people,” he said.

Pigott said he enjoys the reactions of his customers, especially to the sweets.

“They come through the door and beeline for the cupcakes,” leaving handprints on the glass, he said. “And that’s just the adults.”