Upon dedicating its new, 8,500-sq.-ft. commissary in Allston, Mass., Finale Dessert Co. announced plans to open its fifth retail location this fall. Finale's newest dessert restaurant will be in Boston's North End, a long-time hotspot for area foodies and pastry lovers.
“When we first created the Finale concept 10 years ago, the behavior we were hoping our consumers would exhibit was to go out to dinner, then head to our place for dessert,” said Paul Conforti, co-founder and president of Finale. “Even then, we called it the North End model of dining, so we knew from the beginning this would be a market we'd be successful in.”
The 2,400-sq.-ft retail location will face the new Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. The land for the Greenway, reclaimed from a former raised highway, acts as a chain of public parks and green spaces.
Guests can expect the same award-winning plated dessert menu, with signature demonstration mirrors overhead in the Desserterie. Dessert wines, as well as champagne and port wines, will be paired with menu items for a complete dessert dining experience. The new location also will feature Finale Bakery offerings for to-go sales, including gourmet cakes, pastries, cookies and other sweets for celebrations at home.
“We know there are many reputable, long-established dessert purveyors in the area, but we think we're sufficiently different to be able to offer restaurant dinner-goers something new,” Conforti said. “We plan to bring something to the area, not take away from it. Instead of taking away a slice of the pie, we are just going to add to the pie.”
Even in a tepid economy, Finale's growth exhibits a consumer demand for desserts.
Finale Dessert Co. operates four other locations in Massachusetts: Park Plaza in Boston, Harvard Square in Cambridge, suburban Natick and Coolidge Corner in Brookline.
