The Micro Bakery Bringing San Francisco to The Heart of Dublin. Supported by Square.
Find out how Charlotte Leonard Kane and her partner Shane Palmer, mixed years of culinary experience with a passion for baking to give Dublin the neighbourhood bakery it never had.
Every business has its story and Scéal, the Irish word for story, is the name founders Charlotte and Shane chose because the story of the bakery is ultimately their story too. When Shane cut his finger chopping carrots at culinary college, Charlotte came to his aid with a plaster (and a lot of giggles) and a friendship was formed. When a former tutor got them both jobs at the same restaurant, Charlotte would sneak Shane pastries and friendship turned to love.
Today their micro bakery operates at the Spade Enterprise Centre in Smithfield, Dublin. But it was when they were both cheffing out in San Francisco that their destined path really started to take shape.
While the couple were falling in love with the culture of neighbourhood bakeries that are so popular in San Fran, Shane had discovered the Tartine Bread book and baking sourdough became his passion. By the time they came back to Dublin, they knew, “there was no other choice - we had to start our own bakery.”
Built for every business.
When they couldn’t find the type of pastries and bread they’d enjoyed in San Francisco in Dublin, Charlotte and Shane started making their own, taking their seasonally driven products, sourcing the best Irish ingredients they could, to the masses.
But where to operate from? An opportunity came their way when they were offered the chance to rent a small bakery set within a one-acre farm in the suburbs of Dublin. From the autumn of 2016, Elmhurst Cottage Farm was Scéal’s home for eight months. It was here they honed their craft, surrounded by nature, growing and gathering their own ingredients on the land.
One freezing January day, they set up a stall at a market in Dublin and Scéal took off. They began to notice the same customers coming back day after day and the business started to get interest from local press – the rest is history.
“We always say that one of the most important ingredients in our products is time.”
Today Charlotte and Shane run the operation from their baking HQ in Smithfield and they’re all about keeping it local. “We do our utmost to source Irish ingredients, from foraging produce from Ireland’s beautiful countryside, to gathering ingredients from our small organic vegetable garden at home and connecting with local producers.”
From beginning to end the process of creating croissants and sourdough takes three days. Wednesdays and Fridays are dedicated to production, which includes dough preparation. Thursdays and Saturdays are baking days, with start times as early at 4am before the loaves and pastries are then dashed across town to The Fumbally stables to pass on to their loyal customers at 10.30am. Charlotte thrives on customer interaction:
“Customers keep me going. They’re incredibly supportive, and one of the highlights is the bond we’ve been able to harvest with our customers.”
The Scéal team uses Square as an omnichannel tool. For customer pre-orders, they use Square Online Store to cover all online demands. Having the website means never missing an order and helping manage inventory. At the stables, they take all in person customer payments with Square SPOS, which runs on both Square Stand as well as Square Terminal for hand held payments.
To become part of the Scéal Bakery world find them on Instagram, or visit Charlotte and Shane at The Fumbally Stables, Dublin 8. The bakery is open every Thursday from 10.00am to 1pm, and every Saturday from 10.00am to 1.30pm.