Variety on the menu at new bagel shop in Templeton: Here's the reason for the varied menu

If variety is the spice of life, it’s also the guiding principle for the owner of a new Templeton bagel shop.

Madison Mayhan, who held a soft opening over the weekend for her new business, Deer Creek Farm Bagel and Breads at 368 Patriots Road, said that the shop would not have a set menu because what she bakes will depend on the availability of ingredients.

“The menu will always be varying, I never want to have to make something because that would take the fun out of it for me,” she said. “I like to be able to go to the farmers’ market and barter with the veggie people that are there. They’ll come over and ask for something, and they’ll give me onions or something that’s in season, and that will be our flavors.”

Mayhan said she also encourages her nine employees to get creative when it comes to the shop’s menu.

“Whenever someone comes in and has an idea, we’ll try that,” she said.

Manager Stephanie Marcoux said her boss’s openness to new ideas ensured that the business would be a unique one.

“Maddie is very creative and she lets you be creative too,” said Marcoux.

The only constants among the store’s selections will be the plain and with-everything bagels, and holiday menus, she said.

Successful soft opening for Templeton bagel shop

The shop’s soft opening test run on Sunday was a success, she said.

“Ten minutes before the opening, the parking lot was full,” she said. “From the second we opened, there was a line outside that wrapped around the window until the second we closed. I was overwhelmed.”

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The shop will officially open to the public on Saturday, July 6.

Mayhan said owning the shop, which also sells cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, and coffee, was the natural extension for someone who grew up with a love for baking.

“It was an ingredient-only household, a ‘no snacks’ type of thing, and I’ve always been a frugal person so I make everything from scratch, and then (baking) just became something that I did,” she said. “And then that turned into this, and it turns out everyone wanted it.”

Mayhan said she hoped her store, which is located in a former automotive garage, would become a place that people could stop by on their way to work.

“It’s small place and it’s close to Rt. 2 so our goal is to become a grab-and-go place,” she said. “We’re not really looking for the sit down and hangout crowd."

Bakery an offshoot of owner's successful farm stand

After selling her goods at local farmers’ markets, Mayhan opened a successful farm stand at the Otter River Rd. farm she owns with her husband, Trevor, about four years ago. The stand grew so popular that it was clear her bakery operation had outgrown the cooking space available to her at the farm.

“We were a home bakery using just our home kitchen, so we renovated an addition on our house that had all of our commercial equipment so we could go to farmers’ markets, but there was  so much extra leftover that I didn’t want to go to waste that we opened the farm stand,” she said. “The farm stand was doing better than the farmers’ markets, and there was such a demand that it came to this.”

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The self-serve farm stand will remain open for the time being, Mayhan said, but there could be some changes in the future.

“We’re going to try to keep it, but it may move here,” she said. “We’re not 100 percent sure what we’re going to do. We may open (the farm stand) when we close at 1 p.m. every day, we may open it with whatever is left over from here so people can self-serve on their way home from work.”

All of the ingredients in everything Mayhan serves comes from locally sourced produce. Among the places she shops are Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Company in Orange, Smith’s Country Cheese in Winchendon, and Pease Orchard in Templeton.

“Supporting local businesses is very important to us,” she said.

Deer Creek Farm Bagel and Breads will be open Saturday through Tuesday from 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. during the summer and fall farmers’ market season. The store’s hours will likely expand during the colder months.

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Deer Creek Farm Bagel and Breads opens in Templeton