Tiny Village Bakery to get just a bit bigger

LACONIA — Since 1993, Laconia Village Bakery has offered food and drinks on Main Street, with the same basic formula: all homemade, with satisfying portions and reasonable prices.

It’s been a successful business model, and has become more compelling in recent years. Owner Rachael Marsh, who bought the bakery in 2016, said the increase in business is causing her to expand into the neighboring space, previously occupied by Barbary’s Barbershop.

Marsh said the new space will be opened sometime this spring, and will provide seating for customers — there is currently just enough space for a handful of customers to sit and eat — which will enable her to reconfigure her existing space to provide more space for her kitchen.

“We need more room,” she explained. “We outgrew the space. We are just too busy.”

Marsh said she’s been eyeing the unit next door — the bakery is at 660 Main St., and is expanding into storefront 662 — for some time. The problem had been Dan Barbary, owner of the barbeshop, which was using that space.

“I’ve been trying for years to get Dan to retire,” Marsh said. “He would just say, ‘I’m not ready yet.’” But then last fall, right before Thanksgiving, she stopped in to visit with him and he said, “I’m ready.”

The transition of the space from one business to another was interrupted by Barbary’s passing. He died in January at the age of 82.

Marsh said the extra space will be welcome for her business, which has grown significantly over the past three years. Most of that growth has come in her lunch business — soups, salads and sandwiches. The bakery hasn’t really been doing anything differently, just the same as always, serving salads made with fresh vegetables and homemade dressings, homemade rolls, homemade soups and homemade ... you get the idea.

All of that homemade food has been made in the back half of the bakery’s 800-square-foot unit. Since Marsh bought the business, it has grown to require the services of three bakers, who've had to learn how to move around and among each other in that small space.

“I don’t know how we do it, but we do it,” Marsh said. “We dance a lot.”

It gets even crazier in late November, when the tiny production space churns out its usual daily products, in addition to around 400 pies and about 100 dozen rolls, “and they’re all rolled by hand, every one of them. My arms feel like they’re going to fall off,” Marsh said.

All three bakers are currently sharing one baking station. With the expansion, and after the entrance is relocated from the current space to the 662 Main St. doorway, Marsh will be able to orient her service counter toward the new dining area and expand her kitchen into the current entryway, affording each baker their own space.

She said it will be another month or so until she’s ready to open the new space to customers. Perhaps it will allow her to continue the growth of recent years.

“We pride ourselves on hefty portions for a reasonable price,” Marsh said. “Come see us in our new space.”