Flour and Salt Bakery & Cafe has announced that they will be expanding their business and opening a new location on Lebanon Street. Customers can expect the new location to be open on Wednesday, May 4. Flour and Salt was started in 2015 and is owned by two Colgate alumni, Britty and Brendan O’Connor. They will keep their Maple Avenue location as a prep kitchen, and move cafe operations to their Lebanon Street location. Their cafe currently “makes breakfast and lunch sandwiches, serves pastries that are all made in house from scratch, brews delicious Peaks Coffee Co, and provides a gathering space for our community,” according to the Flour and Salt website (flourandsalt.com). 

“It was only six days from the day that we found out the space was available to the day that we took over the lease,” Britty O’Connor said. “It will be almost exactly 60 days from when we signed the lease to when we re-open at Lebanon Street. It’s been a pretty serious blitz of work.”

Britty O’Connor further discussed what about the new location is most exciting and what new possibilities it opens up for the business. 

“The Lebanon Street space has an institutional memory of being a community gathering space, first through The Barge and then through The Rye Berry,” Britty O’Connor said. “It means a lot to us that we get to continue that tradition. We’re excited to be able to host almost four times as many patrons given how much more seating space we will have. We are also excited about some one-off evening event concepts we have kicking around in our heads.”

Employee Zoe Bender commented on what excited her about the new location, as well as what the students at Colgate should be excited about. Students should expect more seating to enjoy the food and atmosphere, new sandwiches added to the menu as well as more dessert options, according to Bender. 

“It will allow for more people to come and get some delicious food. What I’m excited for the most is the new bakery space,” Bender said. “I’ve always wanted to run a cake shop/bakery and now I will actually be able to do that while helping out two of my most favorite people and I’m just so excited.”

Britty O’Connor also touched on some of the other benefits to opening up this new location, which includes expanded hours among other benefits.  

“The expansion has also given us the opportunity to promote some of our staff into positions that offer more longevity with [Flour & Salt],” Britty O’Connor said. “Before the pandemic, we had plans to establish a production kitchen so the hopes for expansion have been there for a few years and this building finally gave us the avenue to do it. The Maple Avenue building will turn into a production kitchen and by the end of the summer, it will also offer a customer-facing cake and dessert shop.”

Flour and Salt has been offering an inside look at the renovations through stories on their Instagram account. As part of the expansion, they are also rebranding with a new logo. Junior Claire Rose has been following their process via the Instagram account.

“They share everything like memories, architecture decisions and the thought process behind their business endeavors,” Rose said. “I love that they even poll their social media following to see what menu changes and additions people would like to see in their expanded cafe, because it just shows how dedicated they are to preserving Rye Berry’s space in Hamilton, and honoring what their customers want to eat.”

Flour and Salt’s final day in their Maple Avenue location was Sunday, May 1, and the space will be used as a production kitchen for their sister shop, Martha’s on Madison, according to an announcement post on Instagram. 

“I’ve always loved following Flour and Salt on Instagram, especially because they are so candid about what goes on behind the scenes of their small business which is beloved by all Colgate students,” Rose said. “I feel like I’m getting let in on a fun secret. It has been awesome to see their step by step process of moving into the new Rye Berry space around the corner.”

Part of the reason for such a quick turnaround was that they wanted the Class of 2022 to be able to enjoy the new location before graduating, according to O’Connor.