Monkey Business Bakery, one of South Berwick’s newest businesses opened this week on lower Main Street. Dover residents Jake and Nicole Bouchard rented the space vacated by Hot Dog Heaven in October and spent months fitting up the baking kitchen and the showroom.
Jake and Nicole both grew up in central Maine. Nicole learned her craft at the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont. They knew they wanted to locate their bakery in a small town and when they found the space in South Berwick they decided to go for it. Jake explains the name, “We both have a thing for monkeys and Nicole had to do a business plan as an assignment when she was at the Culinary Institute and used the name in that. We liked it so decided to use it here.”
The bakery offers cakes, cheesecakes, breakfast pastries, tarts and cookies, all made from scratch using simple high quality ingredients. Nicole’s passion is cakes and the bakery will always have a selection on hand. Special orders are available with advanced notice. Nicole loves to make fancy sculpted art cakes and plans to offer them once the business gets more established.
I didn’t get to try a cake yet but I did get some cookies and brownies for tonight’s dessert. I couldn’t wait for dessert though and tried a double chocolate cookie this afternoon. It was perfect, tender and crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside with a beautiful balance of high quality chocolate, butter, and fresh flour with just the right touch of sweetness. If the cookie is any indication, I expect the cakes to be sublime.
Monkey Business Bakery also serves coffee and has a couple of tables for eating in. The are open Tuesday through Friday from 7 AM to 4 PM, Saturday 8 AM to 4 PM, and Sunday 9 AM until 2 PM. They are located at 440 Main St. in South Berwick, across from Fogarty’s.
on Mar 7th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Now, that’s what I call a peanut butter cookie, not too firm, not too soft, definitely not gooey, with just the right balance of peanut butter and cookie dough and just enough sweetness to bring out the essense of the main ingredient, in this case, peanut butter.
What to try next?
on Mar 10th, 2008 at 8:55 am
So happy for you both!
Much success,
Mark
on Mar 10th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Congratulation Nicole!!! I will hopefullystop by when I am in Maine this summer. Wishing you only the BEST!!!
on Mar 10th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Best of luck to both of you! I can’t wait to stop by and see your new bakery!
Warmest regards,
Chef Dan.
on Mar 11th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Hey! You guys made my day!
I almost cried when they tore down the bakery to put in a Dunkin Donuts, then I kept looking at the Roberge Bakery sign thinking, why don’t someone make that bake into a bakery? Well, you have answered my prayers! I’ll be right over!
on Mar 11th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Replacing an institution like Hot Dog Heaven is a tall order, but… it sounds as though you might have pulled it off. Congratulations to you both! Everything looks great. Please let me know if there is anything I can help you with moving forward.
Chef Hale
on Mar 11th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Hello Nicole,
Congratulations! Way to go- I look forward to visiting and eating.
Jason
on Mar 11th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Wow! is all I can say to the taste sensations from some pastry I picked up last Friday. There will be many more trips to Monkey Business Bakery in the future.
Best of luck to Jake and Nicole - you are a very welcome addition to So. Berwick.
Mary Vaughn
on Mar 12th, 2008 at 6:30 am
We’ve sampled several of the goodies at Monkey Business, and they’ve all been great. A nice place to sit and chit-chat over biscotti and coffee!
on Mar 15th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Oh my God, the monkeybread is to DIE for.
on Mar 16th, 2008 at 8:31 am
THE BEST DONUTS EVER!!!
on Mar 16th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
after reading about the new bakery on this very website i decided to go there friday afternoon. triple chocolate cookie….yum.
on Mar 25th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
[...] Monkey Business Bakery is located at 440 Main St. in South Berwick. I suggest that you get your sweet tooth over there and check it out yourself. [...]
on May 2nd, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Jake and Nicole,
I cannot wait to visit your bakery! Mandy and I were looking at your menu and our mouths started to water - WOW! Words cannot express how proud we are of you and with your talent and exceptional work ethic, you will continue to do great! Can we place a mail order? Love you both, Matt and Mandy
on May 20th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Hey Nicole, Jake,
What’s up SIS and Brother-in-law. Kristin and I will try our best to come down and see the Bakery ASAP. Sorry we haven’t had a chance to check it out yet. Its really cool that you have some buzz going with the article and the website. See you soon.
Love,
Trevor
on May 20th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
What a welcome addition to our town….
Congratulations and Best Wishes…
I will be in soon, again, and try some more of your delicious “goodies”…..
Every thing we have tried thus far has been absolutely WONDERFUL…..
on Jun 9th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Nicole and Jake!! I wish you were closer… Congrats for the great reviews, wonderful pictures and the desserts at Easter were awesome!!! Nicole- I vote for your woopie pies- I loved them. I wish you success, you guys pulled it off!! Love ya, Theresa