Hi, my mom and I are trying to come up with a small selection of bakery items to make for a local coffee shop. We are going to use their kitchen and don't really want to go traditional donuts. So my question is... What is your most requested or "hottest" baked good/bakery item? Or ... What do you always get when you are at a bakery?
This was unexpected for me. My most requested items are my blueberry muffins... over cake, cupcakes, anything. But they are rediculously good. I have never had one anywhere close to this good, but I didn't expect others to feel the same about a muffin.
I don't own a bakery, but am starting with the local Farmers' Market this summer. People who know me and know that I bake are already asking for cinnamon rolls. The problem is, I've never made a cinnamon roll in my life unless it comes from a tube!!!!! LOL !!! Guess I need to learn! 
Customers who frequent a coffee shop are probably looking for a different product assortment than people who visit a bakery. Demand for specific products will also vary depending on local demographics.
Consider going directly to the source and surveying customers at the coffee shop (with the owner's permission of course). To help encourage participation you could offer a coupon for a free muffin or other small item.
When I get coffee I want brownies or bagels depending on my mood. I think the muffins are a good idea for a coffee shop too!
Every area, every neighborhood has different things they like.......especially if your area has any age or ethnic concentrations. Your bakery will probably gain a reputation with some people for one item and others for a completely different product. That's why it's good to sell more then one product.
If you do research on pricing and you check out what every bakery with posted prices on line you'll see similarities of what everyone is selling. In general, most bakeries brochures have: brownies, cookies, cookie bars, scones, muffins, decorated cakes, wedding cakes, cupcakes, etc...
My personal opinion: never ever sell something that isn't absolutely great! If your not good at baking cookies don't sell them because everyone else does. It can hurt your business if any of your product line isn't great. People will buy your medieocre cookie and if that isn't great they aren't going to come back and try your cupcake which maybe is something you make that's really great.
When I had my coffee shop, I used Karps (BakeMark) scoop and bake muffin mixes and frozen cookies. (Not because I can't bake from scratch- but because I didn't work full-time in that business - I had to make money as a therapist.) Customer preference seemed to vary - and always seemed to be whatever we didn't have!!
I don't have a bakery, but I run our hospitality ministry at church. Every Sunday I make something. One of the most requested are cinnamon rolls. Another favorite is chocolate chip banana bread (from a Hershey's cookbook). I also make an applesauce oatmeal cake and blueberry coffee cake (both recipes from allrecipes .com) that have gone over well. I also make cookies on occassion. I made Raisin puffs last weekend, sometimes oatmeal raisin, that sort of thing. Everybody has their own favorites, but the cinnamon rolls definitely are the most popular. I bake them at the church in the morning, so the whole place smells good by the time most people get there!
I love a great muffin, but what I really like is to be able to find something that I will not ordinarily take the time to make for myself or hubby at home. So like a nice pastry with puff pastry as it's base or an eclair, or cream puff. I know I am different then most people because I will take the time to make a lot of things most people won't touch at home like Muffins, brownies, cinnamon rolls etc. etc from scratch. Cinnamon rolls are good, but sometimes I have been disappointed because it was not near as good as it looked. If you have a great following of people who love your baking at church or anywhere else why don't you also ask them? I am hoping and I am sure you are too that the people you know from church will frequent your shop and give you business. When the people you know already will tell you what they love that you make very well then the word will get out when you put your bakery goods at this shop. I also sure that the coffee shop owner will be glad to help you advertise in someway because I am sure that they are hoping that having bakery goods available will help increase their business also. Good luck!!
The problem with cinnamon rolls is that they are time intensive and take up space. If your bakery is primarily selling bread and yeasted sweets, that's great. I offer cinnamon rolls because I like to make them, but they don't flow (work order) with quick breads and cakes, etc.
I think that you must have misunderstood what I wrote. I will make cinnamon rolls at home for myself occasionally, but I like to find things in a bakery that I won't make at home for myself. Puff pastry is easy enough to work with--that isn't the reason. It is that most the time the goodies you put on it are not diet food. So I do not want a bunch of it sitting around. So if I go to a bakery and they have something like one of those yummy sinful goodies I will get one because that is all I am having. Also one popular well known coffee shop has a delicious cranberry bar and I think they are really yummy, but can't afford them that often so I went home and experimented some and came up with my own bar that I thought was better anyway. But this cranberry bar has like a shortbread crust to it and dried or fresh or frozen cranberries in it and then a cream cheese icing and cranberries chopped up on top. I think it had nuts in the bar too, but can't recall right now. I just found a recipe on line and changed it around a little to what I thought I wanted and I was very happy. But anyway my point is a yummy cookie type bar I think would be good. Something like a Lemon bar or a key lime bar. Just use your imagination. try out new things and get the customer's reactions too. ask for them. I believe that most of the time when something is new that people are tickled pink to give their opinions on how the stuff taste. If it is yummy they want you to keep it up. Try makikng up some customer evaluation cards and put them near the register or somwhee obvious on the counter top.
Don't forget to take into account the profitability of the item. If you discover that 90% of people would buy an item that has a 10% profit margin, and 60% of people would buy an item that has a 20% profit margin, you are better off focusing on the latter (assuming you are not competing with other substitute goods within the coffee shop).
Cinnamon Rolls are a must. Artist your recipe and perfect it to a tee.
I can't make enough of them.
I primary have a cupcake/cake bakery. Candy, breads, cookies, are side items but the cinnamon rolls rule. People call to make sure they are at shop.
SR Bakery
I know this is an old thread, but I have only had a bakery/restaurant cinnamon roll ONCE that I thought was worth a hoot - came out warm, with melted cream cheese icing. The dozens of others I have tried at other establishments have always been dried out, and I rarely take more than a bite of those without pitching them in the trash.
I make a great pecan roll, but I've never found cinnamon or pecan rolls to have a good enough shelf life to sell in a bakery case over a day's time. The texture starts deteriorating within the first hour out of the oven - if you leave them uncovered they dry out, if you cover them, they get soggy. Not sure how anyone but a Cinnabon or a very high volume bakery who is putting out fresh rolls constantly keeps their quality high.
Liz
There is a bakery downtown in the city that is famous for their cinnamon rolls. She started it as a cupcake shop but her cinnamon rolls quickly took over. I know people who call ahead to make sure she's got them in stock and will drive quite a distance to get one. I despise cinnamon rolls (I know, what's wrong with me?) but I have yet to hear anyone knock her rolls. I'd try to find a tasty, reliable recipe for those if you can. I've always had good luck tweaking Ree Drummond's recipe.
When I go to a coffee shop I like a good blueberry muffin. Preferably one as big as my head so I can soak up my coffee in it and savor it as long as I can ;)
At my coffee shop, our vegan banana blueberry muffins are really popular! These days gluten free and vegan are big sellers too (depending on what area you're in too).
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