NORTHFIELD — Combine one cup of love, another of education and a half-cup of experience with a fondness for geniality and customer service and you get Beach Buns Bakery.
Christine DeRias held the grand opening of the new shop, her first full-scale business venture, Feb. 4 at 1600 New Road in Northfield.
The city resident hopes to continue the success she has had with the organically grown business now in her first retail shop.
A native of Monmouth County, the 40-year-old attended Stockton University “and never left” the area, she said.
DeRias is married and has a 10-year-old daughter, Naya DeRias, who is a student at Northfield Community School.
The self-taught baker has a degree in arts management, which has helped her turn her hobby into a career.
DeRias said she is “totally self-taught,” but admitted to developing a love of baking from her Italian grandmother.
Through “experimenting and playing around,” she created a cinnamon bun recipe that became popular with her family at Christmas.
That’s when she realized she had a gift.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to have my own shop,” she said, noting she started working in retail at a gift basket store as a teen and “fell in love with running the shop.”
“It was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to have this someday,” she said.
After college, she worked in the food service industry, branching into commercial kitchen design.
DeRias said she has mixed her love of baking and retail sales with her affinity for the food service business at Beach Buns. She also enjoys interacting with customers and creating beautiful, delicious treats.
That sounds like a recipe for success.
“It all worked out, all of that set me up,” she said.
DeRias said her “jump-off point” came during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when people spent a lot of time at home and could not do things they usually would do.
She also hooked up with Career Opportunity Development Inc. (CODI), an Egg Harbor City-based nonprofit agency committed to enriching the personal, social and economic independence of individuals with disabilities and disadvantages through employment and housing.
DeRias said she was able to use its commercial kitchen to prepare small-batch products at a time when the cottage cooking industry was banned in New Jersey.
“Two things set me forward. COVID gave me time to practice in the kitchen — I needed a spark of joy and it came from a cinnamon bun — and I got linked up with CODI,” she said.
Through CODI, she was able to break into the market to see if people like her products on a small scale. She then sold her buns and other goods at area farm markets such as the Linwood CROPS Market, the Christmas at the Mansion event in Somers Point and elsewhere.
“It was awesome and went really well,” DeRias said. “I was building a following and creating relationships. I didn’t want to start cold in a retail space.”
The shop in Northfield is part of a multiuse commercial building with tenants including Grace & Glory Yoga and At Anchor Day Spa. Next door is Euro Colour Salon and Spa.
It’s a mix she hopes draws in a lot of customers.
“I wanted to create a space in the community that I live in that is warm, a gathering spot for family traditions after church. A place where my daughter’s friends can come over after school,” DeRias said. “I didn’t want to be in a strip mall, something with no character. This felt really homey. The vibe is great and the landlord has a sense of community.”
Inside, there is a small seating area with eight stools and a two-top. DeRias said more seating would be added on the outdoor patio during warmer weather.
She said her OG cinnamon bun with its cream cheese icing is her staple product, the first thing she started making that became a family tradition.
“It has a richer, creamery icing and it’s light, fluffy and delicious,” DeRias said.
Other products include scones, apple cider doughnuts, muffins and gluten-free chocolate peanut butter banana bread on the sweet side, as well as quiche and galettes on the savory side.
Asked if she felt her shop fit in with her healthier neighbors, she said it does.
“I think that life’s about balance,” she said, also noting she will offer healthier options such as yogurt parfaits and overnight oats.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff