RICHMOND, Va. — Not sitting idle after a new oven proved too much for its downtown location to handle, a local baker has found a second sweet spot in the city.
Idle Hands Bread Co. signed a lease at 407 Strawberry St. with plans to open a new location there later this summer. Its current home at 312 Brook Road in Jackson Ward will remain open.
Owner Jay Metzler launched a Kickstarter campaign in early 2017 to help finance a new oven for the Jackson Ward location once demand outweighed the volume he could fulfill. After raising over $11,000, he acquired a used oven from Albemarle Baking Co. in Charlottesville.
The new oven, four times the size of his current oven, couldn’t be powered by his building in Jackson Ward. He said he’d been thinking of a second location, and the newly-presented power predicament helped make the decision to expand easier.
“Ever since I’ve opened I’ve been working against myself,” Metzler said regarding the size limitations he’s run into. Last year, he left Scott’s Addition after less than a year because his 200 square feet proved to be too small.
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