“When I came up with the name ‘The Baker’s Tale,’ it reminded me of a fairytale,” says Kristin Bell of her new bakery in Highland. “So I thought [designing] a cute, French, fairytale bakery would be fun.” The colorful storefront features storybook tones of periwinkle purple and sage green.
Before opening The Baker’s Tale in December, Bell started two other successful business ventures with her mother Alice. Their first was an all natural dog treat business called Bone Appetit Barkery that they launched in 2012. They grew their wholesale business to 64 accounts in just two years before selling the business. Afterwards, the mother-daughter duo opened Mad Batters, a gluten-free bakery in the nearby town of Marlboro, where Bell grew up.
As gluten- intolerant herself, Bell started the Mad Batters because she saw a need for wholesale delicious gluten-free food in the area. As a consumer, she was frustrated with the options. “Everything just tastes like cardboard,” she had told her mother at the time, spurring their first venture in the food industry.
In early 2020, with the influx of COVID and the loss of her mother a few months before, Bell decided to close the cafe portion of Mad Batters and focus on the wholesale aspect. She began looking for property nearby and eventually found a location in Highland. Once the storefront next to Mad Batters became available, Bell thought it was the perfect opportunity to expand her business, and thus The Baker’s Tale was born.
While The Baker’s Tale has many gluten-free options for customers (made next door at Mad Batters), there are plenty of options with gluten, including bagels, sourdough bread, croissants, cupcakes, and specialty cakes. Bell says, “The Highland community has been so welcoming and very happy that we’re there.”
Between the two bakeries, there is something for everyone. Bell and her team of five full-time bakers make all of the baked goods daily from scratch. The Baker’s Tale also serves specialty breakfast sandwiches named after locations in the Hudson Valley. Some popular choices are “The Catskill” (a brioche bun with egg whites, choice of cheese, and spinach for $6); the “Hudson Stacker” (a sausage patty, bacon, hash brown patty, choice of cheese, and two eggs on a bagel for $5); and the “Gunk Slammer” (a hash brown patty, choice of cheese, two eggs, on a brioche bun for $5.50).
As the only bakery in Highland, there is a large demand, and Bell frequently sells out. “We bake throughout the day and we continuously stock, but things sell out so fast,” Bell says. Among many delicious pastries, hand-laminated croissants and apple turnovers seem to be customers favorites. “There is nothing like that in Highland,” Bell says. To avoid disappointment, she recommends customers get there early to get what they’re looking for.
If you miss your favorite baked goods, or you can’t make it to Highland, Mad Batters and The Baker’s Tale products can still be found across the Hudson Valley including at Adams Fairacre Farms, Samuel’s Sweet Shop in Rhinebeck, 2 Alice’s Coffee Lounge in Newburgh, Cafe Mio in Gardiner, and other local businesses.
