A Wedgewood-Houston institution is relocating to ensure it continues to serve customers for dozens more years.
Nashville native Claire Meneely opened Dozen Bakery in 2,400 square feet at 516 Hagan St. #103 in 2015, after starting as a holiday cookie pop-up in 2009 and growing her customer base through farmers markets.
Over the last nine years, Dozen has expanded to offering its changing neighborhood breakfast, lunch and brunch in addition to its bread, pastries and continued wholesale business — with partners ranging from local coffee shops to Whole Foods Market.
Meneely started searching for a larger location to accommodate the growing business a couple years ago with a couple non-negotiables.
The first, was finding an accessible space in the South Nashville area that was big enough to keep all of Dozen’s departments under one roof, to ensure quality and consistency.
Next, she wanted to own the property, to make sure Dozen Bakery wouldn’t fall prey to increased rent prices that have forced other Nashville restaurants to shutter.
Eyeing an early 2025 opening, Dozen Bakery will relocate to 2522 Grandview Ave., after partnering with The Matthews Co. to purchase the warehouse property for around $2.8 million this year.
"We are so grateful for the steady support we’ve experienced over our nine years of being in Wedgewood-Houston, but we have outgrown our current space in many ways,” Meneely told the Business Journal. “This move is primarily about how we can continue to grow and better support our customers and community. We are excited for all of the ways this new building will allow us to expand and will ensure that Dozen Bakery will be around for a long time."
The new space will allow Dozen Bakery to expand everything — customer experience, bread and pastry production, and increasing their wholesale from around 25% to 50% of total business.
Dozen Bakery will occupy around 11,000 square feet of the 15,500-square-foot building, renting the remaining portion out to a to-be-determined tenant.
Centric Architecture is handling design while Carter Group is the contractor, according to a permit filed with Metro.
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