What’s New this Week!
We have so much news, I feel guilty that I don’t post more. But hey, at least we aren’t one of those businesses that sends you messages non-stop. Small Blessings.
In the News:
February 2025 experienced a 3.4% year-over-year decline in consumer spending, with a significant drop of 15.4% in spending at eating places and restaurants Yep we are seeing it. And also seeing bakeries and other smaller independent food businesses post on social media that the drop off is unsustainable for staying in business. We would agree.
While big grocery stores, can carry big losses, small independent enterprises cannot. Particularly, when combined with exponentially higher food costs. The consolidation of food sources by large grocery stores, means that it’s harder and far more costly for small food businesses to buy wholesale. Instead of going directly to producer, we now have to buy 3 layers down, increasing our food costs on many things by 100%. So if you value small, independent, high value added food sources like Violette Bakers, please make your food purchasing reflect that.
If you want to know what I mean by grocery stores consolidating food sources, try to find organic potato chips that aren’t a grocery store brand. You will have a hard time finding, since the pandemic. They bought futures in food production, keeping resources for themselves, which means, they control prices all along the chain. Which is not good for small businesses or consumers.
Also, We have a new way for you to save $$$ on your groceries. See Azure Standard below!
Pi Day Pies! (3.14)
We have a lot of pie goodness this week! FIVE pies in fact. Two dairy full pies: Banana Cream and No Sugar Added Chocolate Cream pie. For the Banana pie we lighten the creamy deliciousness up with
a good dose of organic whipping cream. I’ve tried our dairy free version and it’s insanely good. The dairy version is one step closer to heaven.
For the No Sugar Added Chocolate Cream pie, we’ve taken the crust from our Hazelnut tart, and added a scrumptious chocolate ganache, again lightened with organic whipping cream, with more whipped cream on top and chocolate shavings. The only sugar in the pie is in the 70% organic dark chocolate. It’s a chocolate lovers dream. And no, you can’t buy this quality or attention to detail at any grocery store.
Our other 3 pies are Chocolate Pecan (DF), Mixed Berry (Vegan) and Cherry Crumb. (vegan) All fruit is organic.
Pies are available ALL week, thru Sat. Pi Day 3.14 is Friday. Tell your techie friends. Prior to the pandemic, Pi Day was a real treat for them!
Purim
We have Hamantaschen! I have to say, ours is very scrumptious. Moist, and filled with our house made jams and fillings. We have Apricot, Strawberry, Chocolate and Poppy Seed. Available all week. I ate about 8 on Sat, so come on in and get them (or preorder) before staff eats them all!
St Joseph’s Day
Is March 19th (weds) and we will have Zeppole that day, instead of donuts on Thurs. Tell all your friends who celebrate (it’s an Italian and Catholic tradition), and come on in get some yourself. God will forgive you if you eat Zepploe and Hamantaschen, even if you aren’t a believer. The goodness can be shared with all. Zeppole are cream filled donuts with Italian Amarena cherries (yes, we use the real deal). The donuts have scalloped edges and are decorated with an Amarena cherry on top. They are sooo good. And they are DF. Oh, yeah, and we will have them Sat, March 22 for donut day as well. But they will be full of special blessings if you eat them on St Joseph’s Day. Lol.
Our Gluten Free Baking Class in France.
We still have 4 spots left in class, and about 10 people have told us they are planning to sign up. But clearly the Deer Caught in Headlights phenomena we are all experiencing at the moment, has kept 
people from pulling the trigger. Think of it this way — Its a week away from the good ole USA, where you can completely decompress in a nurturing environment, where you can eat everything on the daily menu, meet new friends, learn a LOT about GF baking, and can pretend you don’t live in America. Who could ask for more?
Saturday Special
Is Pop Tarts. This All American treat, is served up As Strawberry or Blueberry, both Vegan. Or with Vanilla Cream and Sprinkles (DF). These mini hand pies freeze well and are perfect for a morning or afternoon treat. Come on in. And have a bagel sandwich while you are at it. We have a monthly rooster of rotating sandwich flavors, Dairy, DF and vegan!
Weekly Bread
This week it is BAGELS (vegan) and Challah (DF). Our bagels come in 5 flavors. They are sourdough, slow rise bagels, which means production takes 2-3 days. Super delicious. And, freeze well. Many people stock up during this week. And if you come in on Saturday, you can have a cuppa (latte, tea, espresso, hot chocolate — your hearts desire) and a scrumptious bagel sandwich. They sell out by about 1, so don’t dawdle.
Azure Standard, a new way to shop!
The owners of Azure had the idea to bring healthy fresh food to Americans, wherever they may be about 20-25 years ago. It was very similar in concept to Amazon, except they quickly learned shipping food was very expensive. So they changed to a model of delivery, where they have delivery stops, and locals go to the stop to pick up. (We’ve contemplated over the years, the same kind of delivery model). Leesteffy, our owner has been shopping for herself and the bakery with Azure for several years, even though it’s been a hike to pick up in Woburn. But now they have a drop in Cambridge, and Violette Bakers is the drop coordinator!
Thousands of Products
They have thousands of products ranging from food, health and beauty, household and family, nutritional supplements, and outdoor and garden. They are conventional and organic items (2898 organic items!) Meat, fruit (frozen, canned and fresh.) And so on. Personal size and bulk on most items. Most of the meat, veggies and fruit are Farm to Table.
No fee to join Azure.
No minimum. And no need to buy, except when you want to. Leesteffy stopped buying for a year when she had cancer because she couldn’t drive to Woburn. You just order online, and once a month your order is “delivered” to your drop area, which for Cambridge will been near Alewife. They charge your credit card or via ACH once the truck has left the facility with your items, just like any other online purchase.
We buy from Azure because on many things, their prices are cheaper than we can get at the grocery store, or even from our wholesale suppliers. Plus, now that Wholefoods has gotten rid of so many items, we often can buy brands we want from Azure. Lastly, we like their model. They try to bring the best, freshest, in many cases direct from farms to you, at the best possible price. If you are interested in buying from Azure, go to their website and sign up. Our drop is called Cambridge MA Community. And bonus, we can bring your Violette Orders to the drop site on drop day if you want!
Pot Pies!
Now in regular stock. They come frozen ready to bake. We have Small (personal) or Medium (man size or for 2 lighter eaters). They come in Chicken and Veg, Veg and Vegan. All are DF. The difference between Veg and Vegan is the egg in the crust. All chicken is organic free range, and a combo of thigh and breast meat. The veggies, broccoli, carrots, green beans, peas, possibly corn, yellow potatoes and sweet potatoes, are all organic.
Deadlines:
Deliveries are WEDS- SAT. This is not “on demand delivery”. If you need an exact time of delivery, please inquire first.
Please Like our Instagram page. If you are on Instagram, don’t forget to Post a photo and comment of your recent purchase!
General notes:
If we don’t answer phone during regular business hours, please Text your questions. For DELIVERY just chose pick up and make sure you’ve added Delivery City to your cart and put name, address, cell phone in Special Instruction box.) For all orders, you will get a TEXT confirmation immediately after placing your order. If you do not receive a text with your order number you order did not go through. Remember, we are a dedicated gluten free bakery. Order here.
