(From left) The Next Move Program Executive Director Elizabeth Redford and Tablespoons Bakery employee Christopher Brennan show off the bakery's Cookie Camper. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Christopher Brennan’s favorite desserts to bake are unicorn cookies, a sugar cookie studded with colorful sprinkles. Brennan, 25, has been working with The Next Move Program aboard its new Tablespoons Bakery Cookie Camper.
Next Move is a decade-old nonprofit that helps adults with developmental disabilities find employment. It’s working on a brick-and-mortar enterprise, Tablespoons Bakery, which evolved from the nonprofit’s baking program that started in 2017.
In mid-March, Brennan was told to stay home from his landscaping job due to the pandemic. His mother, Elisabeth Brennan, thought it would be short-term, but shortly after he was furloughed.
“We were hearing from so many of our graduates who had successfully found employment who were then furloughed or laid off,” says Elizabeth Redford, executive director and co-founder of The Next Move Program, noting that the population she works with already faces a disproportionately high rate of unemployment hovering close to 80%.
COVID-19 also delayed Next Move’s internship program and the opening of Tablespoons Bakery. “We were feeling like we really had to do something,” Redford says.
One day while Redford was skimming Facebook, the “something” popped up — a vintage 1971 camper for sale. Already the owner of one old-school camper, she saw an opportunity. The idea for a traveling cookie camper was born.
The Cookie Camper on site at Westover Hills United Methodist Church (Photo courtesy Tablespoons Bakery)
“One of the thoughts was, as we start amping up, creating more cookies, what if we could use it as a space for a pop-up shop?” Redford says.
After the purchase, the camper was adorned with a bright coat of paint, local artist Keith Ramsey installed a walk-up window for customers, and its cushions were refurbished.
In mid-September, Tablespoons hosted its first pop-up at Westover Hills United Methodist Church at 1707 Westover Hills Blvd., the future site of the bakery. Not only did the preorders sell out, so did all the extra cookies they brought along.
“I think there’s definitely a demand for people to feel connected to the community and get out of the house and enjoy something that tastes good,” Redford says, “and [the interns] were craving an opportunity to connect with our team and their friends.”
As businesses have been forced to rethink how they operate during the pandemic, Redford, who has worked in special education for over a decade, says she and her colleagues are used to adapting.
“There have definitely been some growing pains that have been associated with COVID, but all special educators, myself included, we’re a certain type of person,” she says. “We’re going to figure it out because we want to make sure our students are reaching their goals and still making gains.”
Tablespoons Bakery recently introduced a monthly cookie club, a box of a dozen rotating treats with seasonal flavors such as s’mores and cinnamon bun. Preordered boxes can be picked up at the Methodist church the third Saturday of each month, and pop-up sales at the Cookie Camper are held the second and fourth Fridays of the month, with the next sale on Oct. 23.
Some of the bakery's creations, including unicorn cookies with rainbow sprinkles (Photo by Don Mears)
“It’s a great way for people to start to get used to seeing us in that space,” Redford says.
Expected to open in the next three to four months inside a 1930s home on the grounds of the church, Tablespoons Bakery will employ four Next Move graduates, including Christopher Brennan.
“I’m so excited to see it once it’s all done,” he says, noting that on Tuesdays, the Tablespoons employees meet over Zoom and recently he was able to catch a sneak peek at the space.
“We got to look inside, and it’s amazing and will be a lot more amazing once furniture and paintings and the big spoons are hanging up on wall and there’s pictures,” he adds.
Baked goods from Tablespoons can also be found at Forest Hill Avenue restaurant Laura Lee’s and Perk! coffee shop in Bon Air. Currently, Tablespoons is operating out of Hatch Kitchen while waiting for its commercial kitchen to be complete. The upstairs of the bakery will house classroom and office space, and the downstairs will have a retail area.
Redford adds, “Our hope, too, for that camper is to continue to do these pop-ups, but why not take it to festivals or markets or venues or weddings?”
A fan of landscaping and working outdoors, Brennan proudly shares that he also plans to help with landscaping for the bakery. His mother says that Next Move and Tablespoons have given her son a sense of purpose, and something to be a part of.
“It’s such a morale booster and self-confidence booster,” she says. “It gives him a sense of purpose, and I say it all the time, ‘He walked in a boy and came out a man.’ ”
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