This gallery space at Andrew Quient Pottery in Haydenville will be converted to a cafe seating area for an expanding Bread Euphoria in Haydenville. Quient will be moving his studio farther back into the same building.">
Barbara Neulinger and her son, Lucas Solem, 10, of Florence select an item from the display case in the current indoor seating area at Bread Euphoria in Haydenville. The bakery is expanding and will be converting the studio and gallery space of Andrew Quient Pottery into a cafe. This current customer space indoors seats four. Quient will be moving his studio farther back into the same building.">
This studio and gallery space at Andrew Quient Pottery in Haydenville will be converted to a cafe for an expanding Bread Euphoria in Haydenville.">
Chuck Wixsom, right, of Pittsfield, is working with general contractor Steve Mauter in the expansion of Bread Euphoria in Haydenville.">
Bread Euphoria owner Mark Pollard, left, Nort Wright and Darryl Moore form bread in the kitchen of the Haydenville establishment Friday.">
By Owen Boss
Staff Writer
WILLIAMSBURG - While the economy is leading to cuts in some area businesses, Bread Euphoria and Andrew Quient Pottery are thriving - so much, in fact, that their owners are expanding and renovating.
The renovations, which are expected to be completed by Labor Day, include paving and enlarging the parking lot to accommodate 64 cars, transforming Quient's former pottery studio into a 50-seat cafe with an outside seating area, creating a pottery gallery and studio in the center of the building, and making a safer, more accessible main entrance from Route 9.
Quient, owner of the building that houses both his pottery studio and Bread Euphoria, a gourmet bakery and cafe, said structural improvements being made to the parking lot, landscaping and the building itself have been in the works for a long time.
"The purpose of the move was to make the larger front space available to the cafe because the pottery studio really didn't need it. All a pottery studio needs is space," Quient said. "The space behind the cafe that I will be moving into was only being used for passive storage and wasn't being taken full advantage of. What we are doing now is making better use of the space in the building."
Quient, who has been selling the pottery he creates in his studio for more than 30 years, also offers four seasonal classes to local residents interested in pursuing the craft as a hobby.
Mark Pollard, who owns Bread Euphoria with his wife, Geri, said the cafe's move from its cramped location in the back of the building to the much larger area in front will help their rapidly growing business reach new heights.
"We keep getting busier and busier," Pollard said. "We have been doing 40 percent more business than we were at this point last year, and it just keeps increasing."
Currently, 20 people work at Bread Euphoria.
The cafe, which is known for gourmet pastries, pizza and bread, currently offers fewer than 20 seats for patrons who want to sit down and eat. Pollard said a large portion of his current business is selling bread to local restaurants; through the move out front, he is looking to increase on-site sales.
Six years ago, Pollard purchased the company from its former owner and moved to Cummington from San Francisco. Since taking over the business, he said he has gotten used to working in cramped conditions. For three years before moving to his current location on Main Street, Pollard said he ran the business out of the basement of his house, with a single wood-burning oven. "We would sell our bread out to local restaurants," Pollard said. "Even then, business was good."
The renovation, Pollard said, is meant to offer local residents a new place to enjoy a meal. The remodeled cafe will include a new wood-burning oven for pizzas. Pollard said he hopes to apply for a liquor license to sell beer and wine with dinner.
"A lot of people have said they would love to have sit-down service here but get their sandwiches to go," Pollard said. "People come from all over to visit us, and the new cafe will offer them somewhere to sit down and eat."
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.
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