Dorothy Lane Markets

Individual “baby” king cakes (5 ozs.) are big business from January leading up to Fat Tuesday. This year, the three Dorothy Lane Market bakeries sold more than 700. The bakeries sold more than 1,500 of the full-size, 24-oz. king cakes in the same period.

All of the decorated cakes are currently produced at the Washington Square location. The staff of 11 decorators will soon be moving to a new space in the central bakery.

DLM’s service case at the Washington Square location. Cookies are made from scratch as are the signature Killer Brownie® varieties.

Sampling is a must at DLM bakeries. The Washington Square location also cross-merchandises butter with the bread samples. The bakery has increased sales of the butter from 5 units in a month in the cheese department two years ago to more than 100 per month out of the bakery display alone.

DLM discovered the kouign amann at the Dairy-Deli-Bake show last year. The bakeries introduced the product in January 2013, and the Washington Square location consistently sells three dozen a day and double that on weekends.

The display area at Washington Square.

The artisan bread display at Washington Square. All breads are sold the same day they are baked.

The pastry display at Washington Square. All pastries are produced in the Springboro location.

A service case display at the original Oakwood store.

The bread case at Springboro. The case was custom made and features racks that can be rolled out of the case for easy filling and cleaning.

The Springboro store is the only bakery to have a cold pastry slab.

The retail area at the Springboro location.