Cleveland bakery plans major expansion in Cudell neighborhood

Every Wednesday at Camelot Bakery on Cleveland’s west side, they shut down to make pretzels. The wholesale bakery supplies jumbo pretzels to Merwin’s Wharf and other locations throughout Cleveland. The reason they pause other pastry lines is because they don’t have room to do much else. 

“We’ve been here 10 years, and at the time it seemed like all the space in the world,” said Joe Starr, who co-owns the Cudell neighborhood-based bakery with his wife Rebecca. “Then times change, and you need more space.”

Recently, the couple bought the building at 10401 Madison Ave. in Cleveland, as well as the lot next door, to facilitate expansion plans. Their plan is to build a 10,000-square-foot production facility that will allow them to dramatically expand their capacity. They’ll also be able to hire additional staff beyond the 10 people they currently employ. 

“If we have the capacity, how big can we take it?” mused Joe, who said his employees currently work in shifts because of the small size of their building. “It’s not like, ‘Build it and hope the business is there.’ The business is already there. If we don’t do it, then we’re missing out on opportunities for growth.” 

The couple met back in 2008 when Joe was working as a financial advisor and Rebecca was in school at Cleveland State University. 

“I was in school for accounting but it’s not something I was super into,” Rebecca said. “I was always into baking. My mother taught me fractions by teaching me how to bake. It was something I dabbled and found joy in. So Joe said to me, ‘You know, life’s short, why not do something you love?’” 

Rebecca ended up attending the two-year pastry chef program at the International Culinary Arts and Science Institute (ICASI) in Chesterland, Ohio. When she graduated from the program, she learned through a friend at the Doubletree Hotel chain about the need for reliable wholesale bakers. After baking a sample for the hotel, she soon had her first customer. 

“We both decided we’d like to have our own business, but opening a retail establishment, baking stuff and hoping people will come, that didn’t seem like the best business plan for two people who didn’t have any experience,” Joe said. “With wholesale, you can control the business and the amount of waste.” 

Soon, the couple went all in. Joe quit his job as a financial analyst to manage outside sales and deliveries for the bakery. Rebecca handled all the baking. They found a restaurant kitchen at the now-shuttered Saucy Bistro in Westlake that they could use at night when the restaurant wasn’t open. 

“We baked two nights a week, just the two of us,” Joe said. “We bought a minivan and loaded and unloaded it with our supplies and equipment every time we used the place.” 

Eventually, when the business needed more space again, they moved into the building at 10401 Madison. The boarded-up brick building once housed the first Royal Castle fast-food joint, a local precursor to White Castle. Today, the cozy space is outfitted wall-to-wall with ovens, mixers and baking racks for Camelot’s purposes. 

“We’ve expanded through the years thanks to our good relationships with the downtown hotels, hospitals and the Metroparks,” Joe said. “Now, we’re at our limits with this building. So, we started looking around a couple of years ago, but for what people wanted and what I’d have to do to make the spaces food-ready, I was doing the math, and it didn’t make sense to move. It quickly became apparent a better plan would be to build what we wanted and stay here instead of moving.” 

“We like the neighborhood,” added Joe, who grew up nearby in Old Brooklyn. “I’m excited and we’re happy to be here.” 

Now that they own the building and the lot next door, the plan is to build a completely separate production facility on the vacant parcel and eventually turn the existing building into a retail bakery space. Joe said he expects the project will cost upwards of $1 million. 

“We’re looking at returning it to its history, which is some kind of retail,” Joe said. “We’ll start with setting up an online ordering system where people can come and pick up.”

He said the couple wants to be part of the revival of the neighborhood. 

“We’d like to be the start of the rehabilitation of this neighborhood,” he said. “We want to be at the forefront of that. If we’re part of it, we think we can make it a better neighborhood. The development has moved from Tremont to Ohio City, and Cudell is one of the next areas.” 

The 10,000-square-foot building, which the Starrs hope to break ground on this spring, will be midcentury modern in design, which is in keeping with the bakery’s branding. The Camelot in the company’s name refers not to the knights of the round table, but to the midcentury modern period of 1960-1963 when John F. Kennedy Jr. was president. 

“It’s that late 50s, early 60s feeling of the pie sitting on the windowsill,” Joe said. 

The couple plan to add a splash of teal and red to the building to make it stand out. Currently, Joe said Camelot does about $1 million a year in sales. He believes the new space will allow them to continue their expansion, including hiring more people. 

“We’re not creating an automated bread line,” he said. “The natural byproduct of this business is people and jobs.”