Local with Lisa: Bake Sum in Oakland

Bake Sum is a pastry shop inspired by popular Asian dishes. It’s located across the street from the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. Joyce Tang is the founder.

What is Bake Sum?

Bake sum is your favorite local neighborhood Asian inspired bake shop. We make a lot of fun and different pastries you can’t find anywhere else.

You were working in tech, how did you go from that to opening a bakery?

Back in 2015, before I had children, I took a class at the SF Baking Institute and I was competing in competitions on the weekends to see if I had what it took to stand on my own two feet. When I took this class I took boxes and boxes of pastries to Facebook where I was working as a technical program manager. My coworkers’ faces completely lit up. They were so excited and ecstatic about these supremely fresh croissants I knew it was a magical moment I wanted to recreate over and over again.

Local with Lisa: Bake Sum — Behind the scnese at Bake Sum on Grand Ave.

Your goal was to make Bake Sum a family oriented bakery?

We’ve all worked in environments where we didn’t feel valued or heard so it was imperative for me to stand back and listen to our employees and understand what they need. A lot of our team are working mothers and as working mothers we have to make sure we strike a good balance.

Bake Sum already seems to have a big following. How’s it going?

We’re a little surprised at how big our following has grown, it’s only been 2 years!

How can people support you?

Come to the bakery! Tell your friends about your favorite pastry.

CONTACT ME

Who should I interview next for Local with Lisa? If you have a suggestion I’d like to hear it! Or if you’d like to talk about real estate and want to know your home’s current market value, I’m happy to provide you a complimentary assessment. Get in touch!

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