This Q&A is a part of Observer’s Knowledgeable Insights collection, the place trade leaders, innovators and strategists distill years of expertise into direct, sensible takeaways and ship readability on the problems shaping their industries. In a New York meals scene outlined by relentless turnover and algorithm-fueled hype, Radio Bakery stands out for a unique cause: it has constructed real endurance.
Led by chef and co-owner Kelly Mencin, Radio Bakery has turn into one of many metropolis’s most persistently buzzy—and influential—bakery manufacturers. With areas in Greenpoint and Prospect Heights, Radio is thought for its seasonal pastries, savory-forward menu and features that appear to materialize no matter climate, press cycles or platform tendencies. The bakery has earned reward from The New York Occasions, The Wall Avenue Journal and daytime tv alike, however its actual achievement could also be cultural relatively than essential: Radio feels embedded in its neighborhoods relatively than extracted from them.
At a second when many meals companies chase virality, Mencin has constructed Radio round repetition, rigor and restraint. Menu innovation is fixed, however by no means on the expense of execution. Shortage exists, however as a operate of house and course of, not manufactured exclusivity. Social media performs a task in visibility, but the model’s identification is grounded in what occurs on the ground: the rhythm of service, the boldness of the group and the reliability of a loaf of bread that tastes the identical day-after-day.
On this dialog, Mencin unpacks the enterprise of working a contemporary bakery at scale—what it takes to maintain demand in a trend-saturated market, how techniques and management defend inventive integrity and why group collaboration stays central to Radio’s development technique. From managing hype and seasonality to navigating post-pandemic shifts in shopper style, Mencin affords a realistic have a look at how sturdy model fairness is inbuilt hospitality, one batch, one service and one neighborhood at a time.
Radio Bakery has turn into a type of uncommon New York spots that persistently attracts a line across the block. Past nice pastries, what are the important thing components that create that form of sustained enthusiasm and loyalty?
Consistency and fervour. One in every of our neighbors down the road at our Greenpoint location is available in each single day for a loaf of our seeded bread. Day by day. He has come to anticipate that the bread would be the similar, if not higher, day-after-day, and if it’s not, he’ll tell us! I say ardour, however what I’m actually making an attempt to convey is vitality. If you stroll into Radio, the vitality from the bakers, sandwich cooks and servers is palpable. You may really feel the warmth from the ovens, odor the croissants, watch the cookies being scooped. The music is on, the employees is chattering. It simply feels good to be within the house. Folks need to be round what makes them really feel good.
Radio is thought for its seasonal “drops” that really feel each curated and constant. How do you steadiness creativity with consistency, particularly when creating new or seasonal gadgets that prospects now anticipate to promote out?
We have now a couple of components we have a look at. The 2 greatest ones are scalability and execution. Anybody could make one thing excellent as soon as. The largest check is making 60 to 180 of that very same merchandise, completely, each single time—and never letting it wreck service. Then, that excellent execution must be taught to our bakers. Can all of them pipe completely? Perhaps not. Can we train them to? We’ll attempt our hardest. If it could’t be executed at a excessive degree, we received’t run the merchandise.
New York’s meals scene strikes quick, and tendencies flip over even sooner. What’s your technique for staying related with out chasing each new taste or format that pops up?
Easy, scrumptious meals will all the time be related. We concentrate on seasonality greater than the rest and let the components converse for themselves.
Out of your vantage level, how has the enterprise of bakeries advanced post-pandemic? Are there lasting shifts in shopper conduct, operations or expectations that you simply’ve needed to adapt to?
I’m nonetheless in awe of what number of bakeries hold opening up each season for the reason that pandemic! New York Metropolis has no scarcity of candy tooths. The largest shift, in my view, is in individuals’s style. Increasingly more, I’m seeing bakeries put savory pastries on the menu or sandwiches. We have now been fortunate sufficient that our mannequin has labored for us extraordinarily nicely. From the beginning, we had been making savory croissant-based pastries and completely different focaccias and sandwiches. Folks need to are available and get a savory merchandise and a candy merchandise, most of the time.
Social media has performed a task in Radio’s visibility. What’s your philosophy round on-line storytelling? How do you translate one thing as sensory as a pastry into digital moments that resonate?
I knew from the beginning that I wished our Instagram to be a platform for inspiration, not just for trade vets however for meals lovers on the whole. I believe our web page resonates with so many individuals as a result of it isn’t too manicured. There’s an excellent vary {of professional} pictures, behind-the-scenes movies of our processes and employees faces.
You’ve constructed a mannequin that embraces shortage with out leaning on exclusivity. How do you consider managing hype, particularly round vacation drops or social-media-driven surges in demand?
To be trustworthy, the “hype” side of radio bakery remains to be a tough tablet for me to swallow. We didn’t create Radio Bakery as a “hype” or “viral” bakery. Radio’s intention has all the time been to create easy, craveable meals. The shortage side solely comes from the truth that our baking areas are so small—there’s a restrict to how a lot manufacturing (or individuals) we are able to slot in every house. With regards to managing the hype, we attempt to remind visitors that the majority gadgets take three days to make, we’re making as a lot as we are able to and that in the event that they miss out on one drop, there’ll all the time be one other. We’ll by no means sacrifice high quality for amount.
Radio Bakery has turn into a cultural touchpoint as a lot as a culinary one. How intentional has that been, and what function does group play in your model technique?
Group has all the time performed an enormous function in how radio capabilities. Radio began as a pop-up. We reached out to trade pals who ran our favourite companies (Mel the Baker, Bonnie’s, Claud) and actually popped up of their areas promoting what we had been testing. It created an incredible group pocket in every space of the town. As soon as we opened Radio, we determined to make it some extent to proceed to do pop-ups and collabs with different like-minded individuals. It permits us to attach in a significant method with different individuals and companies we’re enthusiastic about, retains us studying and it retains our visitors engaged.
Many hospitality founders speak concerning the problem of scaling with out shedding soul. As you’ve expanded from Greenpoint to Prospect Heights, what have you ever realized about development and sustaining a definite model identification?
Radio wouldn’t be capable of develop as efficiently as we now have if we didn’t have a powerful administration basis. Every bakery depends on a “Bakery Chef”—consider it as a Chef de Delicacies—that runs the back-of-house operations at every location. They every carry their very own administration type, concepts and tradition to every bakery. We realized early on that I, personally, can not assist radio develop and thrive if I’m deep within the day-to-day operations. As a substitute, I’ve taken on the function of culinary director, primarily working with the bakery cooks aspect by aspect, creating new menu gadgets, dialing within the present menu and looking out forward. Nina, our common supervisor, additionally goes backwards and forwards between each bakeries, serving to to supervise the FOH operations and the general development of the bakeries. It’s true what they are saying—teamwork actually does make the dream work!
Consistency is a continuing problem in high-volume bakeries. What techniques or group philosophies assist you preserve Radio’s high quality and artistic integrity at scale?
The largest lesson we realized this 12 months was creating SOPs (Customary Working Procedures) for every part! From how we construct our sandwiches to how we create a weekend particular. Even then, we have a look at all of our recipes and SOPs as “residing paperwork.” A few of our recipes have three to 5 completely different variations of all of them saved in our library.
Having up to date recipes is simply the primary a part of the consistency problem. Correct communication between managers and employees is the opposite a part of it. We’re all studying and instructing in actual time.
The vacation season additionally places a highlight on management, particularly in a high-pressure, high-visibility enterprise. What practices assist you lead your group by means of these peak durations successfully?
It’s going to sound easy silly, however I’m so huge on getting sufficient sleep, maintaining a healthy diet meals all through the day (as an alternative of simply snacking on sugar) and making time for myself to both run or go for a stroll. I’m fortunate that I’m able to carve out time for myself in the course of the workday to step outdoors, get some sunshine and go for a run. It provides me a reset throughout a busy day and lets me hold displaying up optimistic for my group.
It’s been a studying curve, however I’ve additionally come to appreciate that leaders “carry the climate” with them. I attempt to hit the bottom working after I come into work, exude excessive vitality and positivity and provides out a LOT of affirmations.
From menu innovation to model identification, what’s your course of for deciding when to iterate and when to carry onto a core traditional?
We’re continuously iterating, refining and tasting our menu, from the core classics to our seasonal gadgets. Radio’s menu was designed with a number of facets in thoughts: taste (a cinnamon merchandise, a citrus merchandise, a vegetarian savory, a fruit merchandise), texture (chewy, crunchy, tender, sticky), and form (pinwheel, claw, spherical, sq.). So, at any time when we select to vary an merchandise, it has to suit into its particular class. So far as seasonal gadgets, we retest and style and tinker with no matter we ran the earlier 12 months earlier than deciding that we’ll run with that once more. If we need to attempt one thing new, it must be higher and extra craveable than what we now have beforehand run.
Looking forward to 2026, what does considerate development seem like for Radio Bakery? Are there methods you’re enthusiastic about increasing the model—or defending its essence—as demand continues to construct?
Proper now, I’m making an attempt to concentrate on two big-ticket gadgets: one, mentoring and rising our group and two, creating techniques that make everybody’s job extra streamlined. As unsexy as that sounds, the group and our techniques are a giant cause for Radio’s success. Having a group that loves to show and mentor interprets into bakers and servers who’re educated and assured. Having the appropriate techniques in place permits us to scale up manufacturing whereas nonetheless making loopy scrumptious product. Tangible growth-wise, I’m so excited that we’re increasing our manufacturing house at our authentic Greenpoint location with the hope that we are able to have extra various choices all through the day.
