COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A bakery described by its owner as "quizzically creative and carefully curated" has opened up its first brick-and-mortar location in Clintonville.
Bite This opened Saturday at 3009 N. High St. -- the building that previously housed Tudie's Cookies and Sweets -- which closed in December. The bakery was originally called MommaBat Bakes before changing its name in 2022.
Owner Annie Dickson got her start by selling baked goods to friends and family. From there, she expanded to the Clintonville Farmers Market and then moved into a shared kitchen space at Sunny Street Cafe. Without formal training as a baker, Dickson began her trade as a way to pass time.
"I'm completely self taught, but I did grow up cooking and baking with my grandmothers," Dickson said. "My husband deployed in the fall of 2020, and to stay busy, I sold brownies, cakes and cookies to my friends and family. Over time word spread, I started getting busier and busier, so I decided to look into a space of my own that wasn't my home."
Food offerings at the Clintonville bakery feature "nostalgic comfort foods with a creative twist." Items include bagel bombs, brownies, cookies, cake and pub grub. The menu changes monthly, with new flavors of every item regularly introduced, but Dickson said Bite This always carries its OG Brownies and both its Original and Hellfire club pub grub.
"Bite This specializes in making treats that taste like somebody gives a crap," Dickson said.
Dickson's favorite menu item is always changing, but she said she's currently enjoying assembling and decorating layer cakes. The reason she changes her monthly menu item is because she gets bored of making and eating the same things.
The brick-and-mortar location was opened by Dickson out of necessity, she said. With a new farmers market added every season -- she now attends three a week -- and 13 team members added to her ranks, the time for a location of her own had come.
"We needed a place we could bake out of all day long in order to produce the amount of product we needed," Dickson said. "We were, quite literally, bursting at the seams."
Dickson chose the Clintonville location after the owner of Tudie's reached out about its availability. Once visiting the building, she quickly decided it was a spot she could call home, referring to it as a "fun, eccentric part of town."
Every inch of the Clintonville space has been catered to maximize productivity, Dickson said. Because of this, the customer side of Bite This is small, and they only offer carryout service. Once an order is placed, the bakery asks that customers wait outside if there's a crowd.
Bite This is open Thursday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., but Dickson said hours may be adjusted over the next few weeks and to keep an eye out on social media for updates.
