Since opening Quail & Condor bakery in Healdsburg in 2020, Melissa Yanc and Sean McGaughey have enjoyed a steady stream of customers from near and far, seeking out their buttery pastries and freshly baked breads.
But this past year was a bit different.
“It’s funny,” Yanc said, recalling the past few months. “We had experienced a very slow period.”
Typically, things “perk up” for the Healdsburg bakery after Halloween, she said. But business lately had been unusually slow for the popular bakery and the crew was preparing to taper down.
Then, a New York Times article published on Christmas Eve named Quail & Condor among the best bakeries in the United States.
“When the article came out — we had no idea, for one thing. And two, it just kind of flipped everything,” Yanc said. “(Now) it’s just like, we can’t make enough.”
On Friday, Jan. 3, the bakery had sold out of everything by 11 a.m., and the shop had to close early. “For the last week, it’s been at like 10 o’clock,” Yanc said.
The New York Times reached out to Yanc for photos before the article came out, but they didn’t provide details on what the feature was about. She didn’t bother to ask, either, because “normally it’s just a small write-up about Healdsburg.”
So Yanc was pleasantly surprised about the article and a following surge in business.
“It’s awesome,” Yanc said, noting that they have hardly had a moment to take it all in. “We have to react so quickly, and it’s like we’re running with our heads cut off.”
The bakery is operating out of a small space on Healdsburg Avenue, making it more challenging to fulfill increased orders. “We just have zero space,” said Yanc, “it’s like a clown car of a building and it’s awkwardly shaped.”
Yanc said they hope to move into a bigger shop by May.
Despite the ramped up business and limited space to keep up with demand, Yanc said she feels grateful for the New York Times nod and the journalist who wrote their nomination, Eleanore Park, who once lived in Windsor and had a Quail & Condor cake at her baby shower.
“It was just nice that this person — who is in my generation, who is a food writer, who has eaten at so many places, who writes for a very well-established publication — helps wake up our clientele and [they] remember, ‘Oh yeah, this place doesn’t cut any corners,’” Yanc said. “And it’s worth all the work. Like, we don’t pay for media and PR; we earned it.”
The New York Times article notes that at Quail & Condor, Yanc and McGaughey “run the gamut with luscious chocolate Champagne cakes, sourdough smacked with tang and pastries with lamination close to translucent.”
The bakery’s bread program and seasonal treats, like carrot cake and malted strawberry mini cakes, also received high praise.
Auspicious beginnings
Pastry chef Yanc won the Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship in 2019, and with the $25,000 prize (along with $20,000 from a Kickstarter campaign) opened Quail & Condor the following year with husband McGaughey.
Yanc and McGaughey were selling their goods at farmers markets and pop-ups for a while before they opened the bakery. So when Quail & Condor finally opened its doors during the height of the pandemic, fans flocked to the small Healdsburg Avenue shop for flaky croissants, seasonal scones and hearty bread loaves.
The bakery’s near instant success prompted a spinoff in the form of a bread and sandwich shop, Troubadour Bread and Bistro, that opened in 2022. Later that year, Troubadour began moonlighting as French-inspired restaurant Le Diner.
Yanc said the recent New York Times article has also boosted business at Troubadour, and just in time, too. Having worked at a number of restaurants, including at the Michelin-starred SingleThread with McGaughey, Yanc said she knows what Michelin food tastes like.
“Lately, my husband’s been cooking Michelin food with this new crew,” Yanc said. “It’s awesome.”
As the bakery duo eye a Michelin star, Yanc said they’re “not trying to lose sight of who we are, because I think when you try to go for Michelin you kind of forget your foundation and your genesis.”
But losing sight of their vision doesn’t seem likely for Yanc and McGaughey, who are adamant about sourcing local and staying in tune with their customers’ values. And if the long lines and early “sold out” signs are any indication, the customers aren’t likely to forget anytime soon, either.
149 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, 707-473-8254, quailandcondor.com