Joe Perez has spent the past several months watching Kelsey Burack transform a former wing restaurant into the bakery and café of her dreams.
“Every morning, I’m going to come and get coffee,” said Perez, who owns Heart and Hustle Print Shop just a few doors down from Burack’s Bottom Line Bakery and Café, which held its soft opening Tuesday on Burack’s 28th birthday.
The doors officially open on the Chopped Sweets’ champ’s business at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
To pair with Perez’s coffee will be pastries and other baked items at the new business at 4534-3 Washington Road in Evans.
Burack won the “Million Dollar Sweets” episode of Chopped, a Food Network show that aired right after the start of the pandemic in March 2020. She filmed the episode in October 2019.
Burack wanted to be a chef from the time she was 12. After living in the corporate world and working in a high-stress environment in Washington, D.C., she knew she needed a different pace. She returned to the area. She spent six months as a pastry instructor at Helms College, where she taught Beks Crans and Tenisha Mitchell, who now work for her. During the pandemic, she was furloughed and launched out on her own.
Burack spent several months baking cakes and other confections out of her home, but the space was cramped. Over Father’s Day weekend, she decided it was time to look for a storefront and happened upon the strip center on Washington Road.
It was the right location at the right price, and she decided to go for it.
At Tuesday’s soft opening, she invited some friends, family and social media influencers to attend. Anyone posting a photo from the opening to social media got free madeleines. That special is good for opening day as well, she said.
Some of the standard bakery goods which will be available include plain and chocolate croissants, lemon bars and raspberry bars. She’ll also have lunchbox cakes for sale. She’s partnered with the Frosted Cutter for specialized sugar cookies.
Burack said she was overwhelmed with the response to her four-hour soft opening, having to replenish her supply of cupcakes and other baked goods several times.
“It’s been crazy,” she said. “I can’t even fathom the amount of support I’ve gotten.”
Among her fans were her parents and grandmother.
Her dad, Serge Burack, cleaned off a few tables during a busy part of the event.
“I’m super proud of her work ethic,” he said.
Perez thinks she’ll do well in the shopping center, which has a constant flow of traffic thanks to Toki Jr.
“The parking lot is never empty,” he said.
Bottom Line Bakery and Café will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday this week with its normal weekend hours from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Beginning Oct. 25, the café will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Burack still plans to do wedding cakes in addition to her in-store items. To place an order or learn more about specialty cakes, visit her website at bottomlinebakery.com.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the features editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com.
