Success didn’t come in a single day for Nancy Fitch. It got here inside 60 minutes.
It took all of 1 hour for her to promote out of kolaches and iced cinnamon rolls when she opened a pop-up at Pearl Farmers Market. A second fast sell-out adopted. Then one other and one other.
The idea, referred to as Dough Child, was a mere aspect gig designed to earn extra cash. Two years and 4 months later, Dough Child now stands as a brick-and-mortar on McCullough Avenue in Olmos Park.
“Lots of our market prospects have discovered their method to the shop in Olmos Park,” mentioned Fitch, a veteran chef who has labored in kitchens at Biga on the Banks and Rosario’s. “It’s not fairly as busy because the farmer’s market however it’s doing very effectively.”
The store is open Wednesday by means of Monday from 7 a.m. till 2 p.m. and is closed on Tuesdays. The farmers market pop-up at Pearl stays open on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. till 1 p.m.
The Olmos Park menu contains zucchini bread, quiche, child truffles, cookies, espresso, tea, and, in fact, cinnamon rolls and 11 totally different kolaches, starting from the Cubano to the sausage, jalapeño and cheese.
The Italian muffuletta — pepperoni, salami, ham, prosciutto, provolone, olive salad and pistachio cream — is the go-to order for buyer Stephen Kinsley.
“The style is unbelievable,” he mentioned. “The meats are moist and it has the precise combination of olive in it. The bread is so contemporary you might put something in it and it might be superb. I get the muffuletta three out of 5 occasions. And if I don’t get it, it’s as a result of they’re offered out.”
Kinsley grew to become an everyday at Dough Child after it opened March 2, 2024 at Pearl.
“The intense colours are what drew us to the tent,” he mentioned. “In case you are not there early, you most likely usually are not going to get the choose you need. It’s actually one of many busiest distributors. There are at all times 15 to twenty folks in line.”
Fitch grew up in a household that moved the place her father’s profession in oil took them: to England, Paris, Mexico Metropolis and the Dominican Republic. She moved to San Antonio in eighth grade and graduated from Churchill Excessive Faculty.
“Dad liked to cook dinner and mother liked to cook dinner,” she mentioned. “We spent quite a lot of time cooking. That was our leisure.”
She discovered work on the authentic Biga on the Banks on Locust Avenue, doing salads and appetizers. She moved to desserts at Biga and later grew to become a pastry chef at Bliss and Rosario’s.
Fitch later ran the Peach Cafe in Boerne for 15 years and managed Pearl Farmers Marketplace for eight years. After leaving Pearl, an thought shaped. Why not open a pop-up on the farmers market? Buddies had mentioned Fitch’s kolaches have been the most effective they’d ever tasted.
A marketing strategy was devised, a industrial kitchen was leased and a pop-up opened.
“The primary day, we offered out in a single hour in a 4 hour market,” Fitch mentioned. “I had two little KitchenAid mixers. We simply stored rising and rising and constructing relationships with our prospects.”
Elevated flavors from the pop-up drew lengthy strains.
“We use natural flours, grass-fed butter, the best elements,” Fitch mentioned. “Individuals know. They’ll style the distinction. That’s why they stand in line and watch for us. ‘Are you able to open?’ And we run out.”
At Olmos Park, the tempo is much less hectic however the ambiance stays upbeat, the vitality robust.
“I’ve by no means met a bunch of people that appear to be happier at their job,” Kinsley mentioned. “They deal with everybody unbelievably.”
Nobody is extra shocked by Dough Child’s evolution from pop-up to brick-and-mortar than Fitch, the at all times shifting, ever-smiling, hustling entrepreneur.
“This isn’t how I believed the latter a part of my life would go,” she mentioned. “I feel I put on folks out. I can simply be on my toes all day. I’ve finished it my entire life. It’s work however it’s not work. I’ve a good time.”
