Tonight, Project Bakeover is back to introduce some delicious treats from bakeries across Canada, as they get an expert menu and interior design revamp. Season two of the hit show is premiering on the Food Network and, if you’re a true sweet tooth, you might just recognize the Woodbridge custom cake shop that gets its 15 minutes of fame in episode three.
On Project Bakeover, pastry chef and chocolatier Steve Hodge and HGTV host Tiffany Pratt combine their expertise to turn struggling bakeries into one-of-a-kind hotspots. The classically trained chef uses his experience operating Vancouver’s Temper Chocolate & Pastry to help the bakery owners gain more profit from their treats without compromising on taste.
Meanwhile, Pratt, who we usually see redesigning residential spaces on shows like Canada’s Home to Win and Family Home Overhaul, shows us her knack for using local products to design inviting commercial spaces that customers won’t want to leave.
As we saw in season one, the fun-loving duo have learned to work together to make the bakery owners proud of their businesses in a time when they may need it most. “Everything about the show is real,” says Hodge. “Tiff and I are working together to create something special for these bakery owners that probably thought this would never happen to them. It’s a fun show.”
Throughout the ten-episode season, Hodge and Pratt visit bakeries from British Columbia to New Brunswick and everywhere in between. The two agree that each bakery’s location must be considered when overhauling both the menu and the interior design.
“You kind of look at what this town is known for in food,” says Hodge. “How can we recreate something with what they’re already making, but bring in that history of the town? And that’s what we do. And I try to tell the bakery owners that if you can capture your culture with where your bakery is, and bring those two together and fuse them together, it’s a win-win. People will buy it; you just have to tell the story on the menu.”
Sharing a story is something that both Hodge and Pratt constantly prioritize when implementing their redesigns. “I always have one thing, that’s my most important thing of all,” adds Pratt, “which is to have something to say. And if having something to say is your branding, is colour, is your product—you have to have something to say, and it has to happen right from the street. From the moment that somebody is walking through your doors, they’re already beginning the experience of your bakery.”
To do this, the Toronto-based designer continues, these bakeries need to create something that will inspire customers to take photographs. This will turn into free advertising through social media.
The pair joke about making a good team because they balance each other out in their methods. While Tiffany wants more colour and more expression in the shop’s design, Hodge’s number one tip in the kitchen is “less is more.”
“Why spend time on something that’s going to take you days to do and you’re not going to make that much money off?” he says. “Simplicity is the best. You know, it’s great to think outside of the box, but at the end of the day, people want simplicity. They want things to taste good.”
On Project Bakeover, we get to see Hodge and Pratt practice both these method as they work with Whitney from Cake Your Way, a custom cake bakery in Woodbridge. While they keep their lips sealed about the details, they do reveal that they were very proud to have incorporated a “must-see design element” in the bakery.
“There were some design elements that were included in her bakery that I’ve never done before in my life,” says Pratt.
Hodge gives high praise to the “amazing” Cake Your Way while Pratt shares she had just visited the bakery that morning to get cupcakes—cupcakes that featured her and Hodge’s faces on them!
To see the original design elements implemented at Cake Your Way, you won’t want to miss episode three of Project Bakeover, which will air on April 14. Season two kicks off tonight at 9pm on the Food Network.
