A Local Gem: Kelly’s Bakery
Nestled between the city of Poughkeepsie and the Hudson River, lies Kelly’s Bakery; a locally owned, artisanal bakery and café. The quant establishment first opened its doors three years ago in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Owner, Kevin Halim says that he originally chose to open the bakery’s doors during the pandemic because he wanted a slow-paced start to owning a business. However, Halim’s expectations of having very few customers were met with the exact opposite; a flurry of Kelly’s Bakery lovers.
“The moment we opened our doors, we had lines out the door. It was very unexpected.” Halim said. During the opening week of the bakery, Halim was approached by an investor offering to help him open a second location. Halim turned down the offer stating that, “when I opened the bakery I wanted to make something and own something local because my husband is from the area. It is not about the money for me.”
Over the past several years, produce prices have risen. Despite this, Halim has not raised the prices on his menu since the day they opened.
“Even if it means I am not making as much of a profit, I want my customers to feel like they can come here and buy our products.”
Halim, an Indonesia native, moved to the United States when he was eighteen to pursue an education in business. However he quickly changed career paths by enrolling himself into culinary school. The Kelly’s Bakery owner joked that his parents were not happy with this change in his education.
“I originally didn’t tell my parents that I had enrolled in culinary school.” Says Halim, “I think my original intention was to just make my parents mad.”
Halim started his culinary education at Le Cordon Bleu however halfway through the program he realized it wasn’t for him and transferred to the Culinary Institute of America to study baking.
“It was not my thing. I don’t like being in front of the heat; I don’t like being sweaty.” Halim jokes.
Being a CIA alumni himself, Halim has offered several CIA students an internship at the bakery.
“One of my interns, who is my pastry chef, is going to come work for us full time when she graduates.” Says Halim.
In addition to offering internships, Halim has hosted a croissant making class for CIA students to take at Kelly’s Bakery.
Despite the owner’s history and presence at the CIA, Halim says that a good majority of Kelly’s Bakery customers are Marist and Vassar students.
“A large portion of our customers are Marist students and Vassar students.I have noticed that the Poughkeepsie local crowd gets bigger when college students are on break because the lines are shorter.” Halim jokes.
Kelly’s bakery frequent and Poughkeepsie local, Haleena Mackey, says that she comes to the bakery for the amazing food and kind people.
“Everytime I come to Kelly’s Bakery, I can expect consistently good food and kind customer service.”
Despite the bakery only being open Wednesdays through Sundays, Halim is at the bakery every day. Kelly’s Bakery bakes all of their pastries from scratch; requiring Halim to come in on his days off. On days that the bakery is open, Halim arrives at the kitchen at 3:30 in the morning to bake all of the delicious pastries.
“All of our pastries, including the bread and the coffee syrups are made here in our kitchen.” Says Halim, “Even on my day off, I come to the bakery to make the bread. Kelly’s Bakery is my life!”
Curious what the most popular item is at the bakery? Halim says that customers love his Babka muffin. Halim shared that the first pastry he tried after moving to the United States was a babka muffin and he felt inspired to make it himself when he opened the bakery. Despite the Irish sounding name, Kelly’s Bakery explores all types of cuisine for their customers.
“Our menu is sometimes Mediterranean, Asian, French etc.” Says Halim, “Anyone on our team is free to experiment in the kitchen. If one of my staff members wants to try making something new I say ‘go ahead!’. That is why our specials on the menu are always changing.”
After just celebrating the bakeries three year anniversary, Halim is overwhelmed by the appreciation customers have shown for his business. When asked how he thinks Kelly’s Bakery is doing three years in, Halim said that “So far, everything is way more than we expected. I am very grateful.”
In Kelly’s Bakery’s future, you can expect the continuation of great food, delicious drinks, and a possible ‘once a month exclusive tasting menu dinner’.
Written by Nicole Vawter
