The BitBakery guide to baked goods in Waterloo Region
By: Rachel Hickey
Tags: Baking, Guides And Tutorials, Outsourcing, Bakery, Local

Naming a business can be one of the more challenging tasks for any entrepreneur. When our founders got together in 2014 to start the company, we wanted that was a reflection of what we do. We take your ingredients and ‘bake’ bits and bytes into solutions — and that’s where BitBakery came from. We happen to actually like baking too.

Almost seven years later, it’s a name we still love. One that represents what we do every day for our clients. There’s only one small drawback. Our website receives a large amount of traffic from people searching for software solutions to run their bakeries.

It’s a running joke here with the team, one that we love to share with our friends, family, and clients.

With this year’s renewed interest in home baking — and baked goods in general — we put together this list of our favourite local bakeries and bakery supply stores here in Kitchener and Waterloo.

A fresh baked loaf of bread from Attila Schmidt, our Director of User Experience.

Ambrosia Corner Bakery

Kicking it off with Ambrosia Corner Bakery this bakery is not only known for their excellent goods baked from scratch, but also their commitment to the KW community.

In addition to fresh baked pastries, Ambrosia works with local businesses to bring an expanded selection of products like pizza, maple syrup, bubble bath, and so much more. Take a look at their community page to see all they have to offer.

Sprolls Fine German Bakery

Buns, pretzels, strudels and cakes- is your mouth watering yet? A nod to KW German heritage, Sproll’s Fine German Bakery has all that and more. Established in 1978, Stroll’s specializes in German Breads and pastries, particularly with German Rye breads with sourdough. Yum!

Nova Era

Nova Era or “new age” in Portuguese, Nova Era’s mission is to help continue to see that the tastes and traditions of authentic Portuguese and European pastries, breads and coffees are shared locally in our communities.

Baking breads, pastries, cakes in small batches every day, Nova Era achieves their goal is to create fresh and delicious bread using only natural quality ingredients, while staying true to time-honoured traditions.

Golden Hearth

Just a few steps away from Nova Era, Golden Hearth is the place to go for sourdough breads and handmade croissants. Golden Hearth’s simple approach to bakery fare seems to be what makes them so successful and highly praised.

You can also find Golden Hearth goods from our friends at Ambrosia Corner Bakery, Full Circle Foods, Legacy Greens and more!

Winnie’s Gluten Free

Love bread but bread doesn’t love you? Winnie’s Gluten Free is a celiac’s dream. Imagine walking into a bakery and being able to eat anything in sight without fear! Winnie’s has your best interests in mind, bringing anything from breads, nanaimo bars and even pizza pockets back into your life.

Lenjo Bakes

Lenore Johnson, owner and operator of Lenjo Bakes brings experience working abroad in France, England, and New Zealand who chose Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario as her “for now” home. Offering custom cakes, cinnamon rolls, Kiwi-style coffee and more, LenJo Bakes primarily functions as a bespoke cake studio and a “wee retail shop on the weekends.”

This year, Johnson was part of the first cohort of Innovation Gueplh’s Rhyze Ventures programming, and pitched to win The Rhyze Ventures pitch award in the small business category, receiving an award of $5000 in October. Congratulations, Lenjo Bakes!

Ayres Bulk Food and Baking Supplies

Sometimes the best baked goods come straight from your own kitchen, made with love. In addition to love, you’ll need the best baking supplies — and we’d argue that the best come from Ayres Bulk Food and Baking Supplies.

Pro tip: Ayres has the best all natural peanut butter (no argument here) and incredible “youth” mix (aka trail mix).

CE Food Experience

“What are all you guys doing lined up on a loading dock with muffins?” questioned Attila Schmidt, BitBakery’s UX Director and seasoned Iron Horse Trail runner. This loading dock is in fact Ce Food Experience, a local loving bakery with options for everyone (even gluten free!).

Ce’s goal is to make high quality food experiences accessible, bringing the same quality of a prestigious restaurant with flavours, creativity and presentation to the general public. Visit their website to find out more!

Cafe Pyrus

Cafe Pyrus is a casual café and eatery serving up healthy foods that are fresh, locally sourced, organic and vegan. Cafe Pyrus places high importance on treating its customers and employees with respect, while focusing on the community and environmental impacts.

Speaking of focusing on the community, take a walk down the Iron Horse Trail and you’ll find The Outpost, open to serve baked goods and hot coffee to passersby exploring Midtown. Chances are you’ll run into a friendly neighbour, see some furry friends, and enjoy a great treat (or two).

BitBakery (not a bakery)

A traditional Colombian Ponque de Novia baked by Diana Valdes, a Software QA Engineer and Product Manager at BitBakery.

So, to be clear — BitBakery is a local software company serving up fresh apps and more.

Looking for help with your project? We could be the secret ingredient to your product with our experts in software development and engineering, design, user experience, product management and testing.