Kaitlin Munoz has had a lot to celebrate this holiday season. A little more than a year ago, she relocated her fledgling Proof and Gather Baking Company from a registered cottage food kitchen in Lompoc to a larger-scale commercial kitchen in San Luis Obispo.
Her stated long-term goal at the time was to open her own bakery one day.
She poured her heart and soul into her new enterprise, reaching customers via farmers markets, direct-to-consumer channels, and wholesale accounts—and now she is poised to celebrate the grand opening of her first brick-and-mortar bakery, with a second location to follow.
The new bakery, situated within the Network Shopping Center in downtown SLO, quietly debuted on Dec. 14, with a grand opening celebration slated for Jan. 21.
Later this spring, Munoz plans to open a second, larger bakery in the Tin City area of Paso Robles. Munoz will share space with Central Coast Creamery, a dream partnership as far as pairing her freshly baked bread with artisanal cheese, Munoz said.
She attributes her speedy expansion to love of her job and appreciation for her customers.
“I credit my success to really understanding what it is that keeps me ticking, and that’s being creative with recipes and then getting to share that joy with customers when they eat my products,” she said. “I believe customers can tell when something is baked with a lot of love and attention to detail, which keeps them coming back for more.
“My passion for baking and seeing happy customers continues to keep my cup full even when things get tough. I’ve also had an incredible support network, whether it’s loyal customers, friends, and family willing to lend a hand, or the SLO community, which continues to show up and support my business.”
One such customer, Carmen Mangino of Lompoc, said she recently enlisted Munoz to create her fall-inspired wedding cake—a perfectly balanced, cardamom-spiced work of art.
While Mangino is a family friend who has known Munoz for decades, she selected Proof and Gather primarily because of Munoz’s expert craftsmanship. And supporting a good person is icing on the cake.
“For as long as I’ve known Kaitlin, she’s been nothing short of kind and giving,” Mangino said. “Seeing her vision of Proof and Gather come true after years of hard work has been amazing. She used to deliver loaves of bread to my doorstep out of convenience for me. Now I will make the drive to SLO to continue my support for her.”
The SLO bakery is a compact 900-square-foot space replacing Cowboy Cookie. There is limited seating indoors, with ample tables creekside for all Network Shopping Center customers.
“This will be a place for people to gather around for morning pastries with coffee, quick bites to eat for lunch, sweet treats for an afternoon pick-me-up, and pantry items to take home to share with the family like fresh bread, granola, crackers, and more,” Munoz said. “We also do custom orders out of this location for parties, corporate events, catering, etc.”
All items are baked on-site—as will be the case at the Paso location.
Munoz invites guests to discover their own favorite treats, but popular standouts with her growing client base—including local restaurants—are sourdough options such as garlic and apricot walnut, several varieties of cookies, and cinnamon rolls.
“We have really unique and fun cookie flavors which draw people in,” she said. “Our olive oil lemon rosemary, gingersnap, and almond butter chocolate chip are the top sellers. People also love coming into the shop for a drip coffee and fresh cinnamon roll. I’ve been making this same cinnamon roll recipe for years, and it has definitely become a fan favorite.”
Munoz’s high product standards don’t wane with coffee selection.
“We work with Shawn [Clark] at Cacti Coffee Roasters, which is a local roaster out of Santa Margarita,” she said. “His attention to detail really comes through in his coffee, and his customer service is top-notch.”
For the grand opening of the SLO bakery, Munoz will be offering customers a buy one, get one special on individual cookies, with a limit of one free item.
Stay tuned for the opening of the Paso location, which will provide a much larger space.
“It’s a big warehouse that we are converting with multiple entrances,” she said. “I will be occupying one side, while Central Coast Creamery will occupy the other side … [with] shared seating in the middle. There are a lot of opportunities there to create the ultimate customer experience for Tin City with wine, cheese, bread, coffee, and sweet treats.”
Munoz said her future plans are to stick with the two bakeries and continue to grow her business through product expansions, online ordering, and more catering gigs for weddings and other special events.
“I will be splitting my time equally between the bakeries to make sure everything is running smoothly,” she said, “and continue to do what I love”—whipping up a storm of new and evolving delicacies while preserving Proof and Gather classics.
“I’m so thrilled to be finally living out my dream of opening a bakery,” she added.
Contributor Writer Cherish Whyte envisions sipping Cacti drip with a pecan snickerdoodle creekside in the new year. Reach her through the editor at [email protected].
