I was born and raised in DeLand, and even after leaving home to study at the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City, this was the community I wanted to come back to. I love food, but what I have learned over the years is that hospitality is about much more than what lands on the plate. It is about creating places where people want to gather, stay awhile and come back.
That is also what I love about downtown DeLand.
A great downtown is an ecosystem. A restaurant benefits from the shop next door. A show brings people in for dinner. Lunch can turn into shopping, and brunch can turn into an afternoon exploring local businesses, murals and historic streets. One good reason to come downtown often becomes several.
Maybe your day starts with brunch with friends at BakeChop, where our scratch-kitchen approach means biscuits, jams, sauces and other menu items are prepared with intention rather than simply pulled from a freezer.
But breakfast does not have to be the whole outing. Take a walk down Woodland Boulevard, browse a shop you have never visited, explore the murals, stop by the Museum of Art, or simply enjoy the character that comes from spending time in a walkable downtown.
The same downtown works just as well on a weekday.
If you work nearby and only have a short lunch break, Reefers Rolls and Bowls is built for that faster pace. Other days call for slowing down. Maybe you are meeting a client, catching up with a friend or getting out of the office for a conversation. Hunters and Gatherers offers a sit-down experience where lunch can become part of the meeting rather than something squeezed in around it.
That is one thing I have learned in hospitality: people do not always need the same thing. Sometimes they need speed. Sometimes they need an experience. Sometimes they simply need a table where they can stay awhile.
And sometimes the gathering is bigger than a table.
Through BakeChop Catering and Events, we can provide everything from breakfast for an early staff meeting to a working lunch or food for a celebration. Venue 142, our historic event space in the heart of downtown, gives those gatherings a home. It can be rented for meetings, networking events, showers, rehearsal dinners, parties, fundraisers and other occasions that call for a space designed to bring people together.
The best part is that downtown becomes part of the experience. Guests can arrive early, shop, grab a drink afterward, have dinner or make an entire evening of it.
That works for date night too. Have dinner, catch a show at the Athens Theatre, stroll downtown afterward and find one more place to stop before heading home.
To me, that is what makes downtown DeLand special. Restaurants, retailers, theaters, museums, event spaces and local businesses all lean on one another. When one business gives someone a reason to come downtown, another often gets the opportunity to become part of that day too.
Breakfast before work. Brunch with friends. A quick lunch. A business meeting. Date night. A celebration.
There are a lot of ways to spend a day in downtown DeLand. My favorite ones rarely involve just one stop.
BAKECHOP CO.
386.366.3766 | www.bakechopco.com
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