Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary and Chris Bandereck.
Mary and Chris, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Chris and I met at Johnson & Wales in Rhode Island. He was Culinary and I was Pastry. We married in 1986 and worked in hotels and other Food Service operations and taught at Culinary Schools along the way before landing on the North Shore in Topsfield.
I had started the business out of my home in Topsfield making cakes, cookies and pastries just about 25 years ago. We put in a commercial kitchen at our home as the business began to outgrow our home kitchen.
The Whoo(pie) Wagon was started at the Topsfield Fair in 2007 and has been growing ever since.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For the most part, I can say it really has been a smooth road. Building our commissary bakeshop in the small town of Topsfield definitely was our biggest challenge dealing with small town rules and regulations, but once we were open it seemed as though we were on our way.
In 2011, came our biggest and scariest decision to have Chris leave the security of his job and join the business full time. We have never looked back and that proved to be our best decision yet!
Please tell us about Topsfield Bakeshop- official home of The Whoo(pie) Wagon.
We have operated as Topsfield Bakeshop specializing in Wedding and Special Occasion cakes, Pastries, Cookies and Cupcakes. While we have an ever growing customer base stopping in for a quick treat, many of our customers come to us for weddings. We are proud to say that most of the time these couples turn into lifelong customers. In our commitment to quality, we limit our full size wedding cakes to 5 per weekend to insure we can continue to bake fresh without freezing or mixes. We take great pride in personalized attention to the customer as well as attention to details. We work very hard to exceed expectations and most customers come to us from personal experience or referrals from friends or our industry partners. We appreciate and understand that this is the highest compliment. Aside from full wedding cakes, other wedding orders each weekend may consist of a small cutting cake and a tower of cupcakes, pastries and/or whoopie pies which has become such a popular option for many.
It is by far the highest compliment and reward to have couples come back year after year. We have had the great fortune to have seen so many families grow and let us help them celebrate so many happy occasions over the years.
While the Topsfield Bakeshop has earned a great reputation over the years and has become a favorite bakeshop on the North Shore, I believe we may be most recognized as The Whoo(pie) Wagon. This is the second part of our world. The Whoo(pie) Wagon is our whoopie pie company specializing in gourmet whoopie pies with 3 food trucks on the road. We have a popular following that spreads much farther than the North Shore of Boston and is what has made us a destination bakeshop. Our flavors range from the traditional Chocolate to our most popular Chocolate Salted Caramel made with our own bakeshop make caramel, and our hybrid “Whannoli” which is a cross between a whoopie pie and a cannoli. Our Pumpkin whoopie pie was recently named “best fair food in Massachusetts” by Food Network. For those unable to travel, we have our online store and ship our whoopie pies all over the country.
We can be found at City Hall Plaza every Wednesday, annually at The Topsfield Fair, and at numerous festivals and events throughout Massachusetts. Each week we produce thousands of whoopie pies for both private and public events. The Whoo(pie) Wagon is a favorite for corporate events, employee appreciation, College and University events and celebrations as well as wedding visits!
What makes us unique is that we are the only Whoopie Pie truck! We are able to produce our product from scratch each day and get it to the customer in a very short amount of time. That is what inspired our tag line for The Whoo(pie) Wagon….even our name is fresh!
As a growing company I am most proud of our commitment to keeping our small “family business” feel even as we are growing into a much larger business. What would our business be without our family? Aside from Chris and Mary, our three sons have not only grown up with this business and have joined us on this journey. While working together has its share of challenges, we would not have it any other way. A great part of our success is due to our team of dedicated, talented and committed “extended” bakeshop family.
In 2015 we opened our retail store on Main Street in Topsfield when we began to outgrow our commissary space and needed more room and a more comfortable place for our every growing customer base. We are working on our next big move….stay tuned!
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
When I was young, I used to visit my friends grandmother’s Bakery in Bridgeport Connecticut Alteri’s Bakery. They were a very popular bread bakery and I am convinced that I landed in this business because of fond memories of love and aromas from fresh bread baking and those visits.
As a teen I had my first job at a bakery and I can say those years I learned to appreciate the hard work, long hours and high energy of a bakery life.
For Chris he would say his visits to the County Fair in New Jersey and the yummy sweet treats he experienced there. He later spent much of his time helping his dad in the family operated delicatessen for 4 years. This triggered his passion and love for the food life.
Contact Info:
- Address: 42 Main Street Topsfield MA 01983
- Website: topsfieldbakeshop.com and thewhoopiewagon.com
- Phone: 978-887-0795
- Email: info@topsfieldbakeshop.com or info@thewhoopiewagon.com
- Instagram: thewhoopiewagon and tospsfieldbakeshop
- Facebook: Topsfield Bakeshop and The Whoo(pie) Wagon
- Twitter: whoopie_wagon topsfldBakeshop
- Yelp: The Topsfield Bakeshop
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
