You probably know Dominique Ansel, one of the world’s best pastry chefs, for creating the Cronut. But his newly announced second shop, Dominique Ansel Kitchen, won’t serve the viral croissant-donut hybrid at all when it opens this spring in New York's West Village neighborhood. Instead, he’s moving forward with another, potentially more radical idea in baked goods: Rather than selling pastries that have been sitting in a display case all day, most everything served at the Kitchen will be made-to-order for customers right in front of their eyes.
I spoke with Ansel over the phone about the benefits and challenges of bringing the idea to life.
You could have just opened a Cronut stand and banked! Why'd you go with this made-to-order concept instead?
It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. Many, many years ago, people would get coffee brewed one, two, three, or four hours earlier. Now people will go to a coffee shop and wait for an espresso drink pulled on the spot. They’ll wait a few minutes for a drink. At the bakery, if you could have pastry made to order and freshly assembled for you, it can be so much better.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Fast Co.Design