Pensacola’s first Great Harvest Bread Co. is officially open at 321 N. DeVilliers St. in DeVilliers Square, offering nutritious and delicious sandwiches, sweets and its famed freshly milled bread.
Great Harvest, positioned on the lower level of the Savoy Place apartment buildings, has been a long-awaited bakery and cafe in Pensacola for over a year now. Rishy Studer has been hard at work transforming the space into a cozy cafe, but her work isn’t done just yet. The other half of the ground floor will soon be filled with a variety of businesses making up Savoy Marketplace, set to open shortly after Great Harvest this summer.
Developing the lower level of the building at the corner of DeVilliers and Wright streets for retail was always part of Studer Properties’ initial plans, but the pandemic and rising construction costs made it difficult to secure retailers.
Rishy Studer fell in love with the Great Harvest model during a visit to a Wisconsin café with her husband, Quint Studer, and was immediately impressed by the freshness and flavor. They later learned that the homemade bread not only tasted good but was also made with simple ingredients and met strict quality standards.
When they visited their headquarters later on with the prospect of bringing Great Harvest to Pensacola, Rishy was even more delighted to see Great Harvest employees were hand-kneading dough around the shared table, implementing the from-scratch practices on which the company prides itself.
Some lucky customers got a sneak peek on Thursday ahead of their grand opening and could clearly see what Rishy has been raving about. As taste-testers devoured all-day breakfast sandwiches and loaves of moist pumpkin chocolate chip teacake, the universal reaction was shock at how divine the more nutritious recipes could taste.
The Dillon Cookie, for instance, is made with whole wheat, oatmeal, walnuts and chocolate chips. Similarly, the brownies are 100% whole-wheat, while the cinnamon rolls are a blend of white and whole-wheat flour.
Great Harvest is best known for offering a variety of freshly baked breads, along with all-day breakfast and lunch options, including hot and cold sandwiches and salads. Their cases will also be stocked with wholesome, sweet treats such as cookies, scones and flavored bars.
They take their grains seriously at Great Harvest, milling the wheat for their bread in-house daily to create items such as the bread for their BLTs, the whole grain slipped into their cinnamon rolls, their savory biscuits and sweet berry cream cheese scones.
Customers feel like they’re part of the process, as the open-concept kitchen lets them see the dough being rolled at the communal table and smell the sweet goodies as the tray comes out of the oven.
Some of the bread flavors will be daily staples such as their Rustic Sourdough, Farmhouse White, Honey Whole Wheat and seed-dense Dakota. These can then be used for the base of their signature sandwiches, such as the following:
The official ribbon cutting will take place when its neighboring business, Savoy Marketplace, which will include restaurants, local vendors and a yoga studio, opens this summer.
In the meantime, Great Harvest is now open regularly from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday for dine-in and carry-out. For more real-time updates and information, follow Great Harvest on social media.
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This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Great Harvest Bread Co opens in Pensacola. Here’s what to try
Reporting by Brittany Misencik, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
