Inspiring Conversations with Eric Bosshard of Morning Star Bakery and Cafe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Bosshard.

Hi Eric, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Our family had always dreamt of opening a coffee shop, our oldest daughter was drawing layouts when she was 10-12 years old. So this was not a spur of the moment thing, it was always a dream.

Roughly two years ago (November 2024) I was told the building owner wanted to sell the equipment of the existing Coffee shop, I asked him if we could lease out the west end of building to build out our a coffee shop. The space was originally designed for a butcher shop (Farmer’s Rail) and was being used to store a lot of overflow from the restaurant. It was entirely unfinished, and a bit of a mess.

The dream of the coffee shop had rattled around the family for over ten years. Then on July 31, 2024, I had a cardiac arrest on my daily 40 mile bike ride. I was clinically dead in the middle of Granger Road for 9 minutes, sustained by a local woman who stopped to administer CPR, and brought back to life by the Bath fire department (you can see their picture atMorning Star).

So in November 2024 my family and I decided to accelerate the long-term plan for a coffee shop, launching the dream of Morning Star Bakery and Café

The biggest influence comes from the time we spent in Copenhagen (October 2025). We visited 31 bakeries over a week, tasting and gathering ideas for everything from menu, layout, design and service. We spent a half day in a baking school learning recipes/techniques we are using at Morning Star. We also had meetings operators of three of the most respected bakeries, truly inspiring discussions with some very talented people.

The evenings in Copenhagen were at four of the best restaurants in the city (all holding 2 or 3 Michelin stars). This included Noma, the five-time winner of the #1 restaurant in the world. On our shelves we have a picture I took of the head chef (Rene Redzepi) leading his team during a Friday lunch service (amazing to see him in the trenches with his team for a lunch service). The level of excellence in all facets of Noma (design, service, menu) is inspiring, especially the teamwork.

We have had a lot of influence from a number of other bakeries/places around the world. High on this list is Cou Cou Rachou in Charlottesville, we got inspiration for our open kitchen design from this spot. Some of the design and feel elements of Morning Star were inspired by the movie “It’s Complicated” (Dianne Keaton/Jack Nicholson). The bakery cabinets were inspired by Librae in NYC and Koan in Copenhagen. The pour over system is taken from La Cabra in NYC. And yes, the Copenhagen trip was inspired in part by the TV show The Bear.

I have probably read 15 books about bakeries, restaurants, service and brands over the past 18 months. The team has shared a number of “eureka” and “that is what we will do” insights from these books. Some books talked about things that worked for others and are in conflict with our principles. You can find a number of these books on our shelves (and some for sale).

We spent over six months on the layout for the space. We were certainly focused on wow. The driving force behind every design decision centered on creating a relational space. We had two different engineering firms help us prepare this bare space for our open kitchen, and two architectural firms help us make the space what it is today. My wife Darcie had her hands in all the finishing design decisions, working with a local interior designer on the wallpaper that provides warmth (yes, there is not one square inch of uncovered drywall).

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has been a very unique road, to say the least. We have been open nine weeks, and the reception has been well beyond what expected. We sold out of everything our first Saturday open, and were not able to open on Sunday (quite an instagram post to apologize for that). We planned to make and sell 100 pastries a day, we are running around 450 on weekdays and 700+ on Saturday and Sunday. The same is true for coffee and food, all 4-5x what was planned.

So we have gone from 10 to 40 amazing people on our team, such a blessing to be a part of this group. We took over added space in the building, doubling our kitchen capacity. We go through 15 gallons of milk a day (for the 200 lattes/cappuccinos), we did not have nearly enough room for all of this in our existing plans.
Adding so many to the team, retraining for the volume (we have 500+ guests through on both Saturday and Sunday) has been the biggest challenge, especially as we are so committed to our principles of Relational, Excellence and Wow. We have hired more than a handful of people out of line (“are you hiring?”), people who want to be a part of what we are doing..

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Morning Star Bakery and Cafe?
The three principles of Morning Star are Relational, Excellence and Wow. These are printed on the wall of our kitchen, and are the north star for every decision we make. We strive each day to live up to these with every interaction across the team, and every guest we serve.

We are known by our guests for three things: 1-world class, made from scratch, European inspired baked goods. 2-the best cup of coffee you will find anywhere, hand crafted and served in a unique way, with beans sourced from three acclaimed roasters. 3-An exceptional experience, with a team focused on bringing joy to each guest, in a one of a kind setting.

We get asked often “what should I try on my first visit?” I suggest a Canele and a Cardamom bun, these are European classics, new to many of our guests, and remarkable (the croissants are also very high on the “wow” scale as well).

I think our people, who are committed to our principles for each other and our guests, is what makes us unique.

How do you define success?
This is an easy question. First is a team (kitchen and front-end) that are working closely together, looking out for each other, and brightening each other’s day. Second is a place full of customers who are asking questions/interacting with the team first, and then in deep discussion with a friend/someone they bump into. Last is pursuing (and often achieving) the core principles of relational/excellence/wow.

We are focused on the principles first, second and third. We are unique in that this is a passion project from my wife and I, it is not a business aimed centrally at making a profit(I have a full time job outside of Morning Star). So financial results are not a central metric for our success. Our principles are our primary scoreboard.
We have used Instagram as a marketing tool. Some would say crossing over 10,000 followers in the first 50 days is a measure of success. Our measure of success is our guests see Morning Star as a place to connect, to reflect, and to recharge- a place they leave better than they came. We wake up every day committed to achieving success with this lofty and attainable goal.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.morningstarbakerycafe.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morningstarbakerycafe
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Morning-Star-Bakery-and-Cafe/61586655894241/?mibextid=wwXIfr&rdid=m1opfYYmRMHRui5d&share_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fshare%2F1YdQxfoQXv%2F%3Fmibextid%3DwwXIfr