Haymaker Bun Company, a Middlebury favorite and a former semifinalist for a James Beard Foundation Award for “Outstanding Bakery” is expanding to Burlington.
The new Haymaker location will occupy the space recently vacated by Tomgirl Kitchen in The Soda Plant — a building on Pine Street in downtown Burlington home to about 40 local businesses and artists.
“The opportunity to expand into the new space at Pine Street was a surprise,” owner of Haymaker Bun Company Caroline Corrente and Manager Chloe Speyers wrote in an email to The Campus. “While the hope to expand our business has always been on the horizon, we were waiting for the right avenue forward.”
Corrente and Speyers explained that they learned about the opening in the Soda Plant from Magda and Nate Van Dusen, the owners of Burlington-based Brio Coffeeworks. Magda and Nate connected Corrente with the owner of the Soda Plant, Steve Conant.
Haymaker features Brio Coffeeworks coffee at its Middlebury location, and Brio currently has a space in the Soda Plant.
Haymaker is known for its menu of uniquely flavored sweet and savory buns, as well as specialty coffee drinks, teas and a rotating lunch menu. The Middlebury location serves as a gathering place for students, town residents and out-of-towners, alike.
“Being part of the community that Haymaker has created will forever be the best part of this work,” Speyers wrote. “We have the opportunity to be the center of so many interactions between our community members & friends.”
Speyers has worked at Haymaker since it originally opened in November 2018.
“I started with Haymaker on day one as a barista and it has been an entirely life changing course that has led me to General Management of both bakeries,” she wrote.
Speyer will now manage both Haymaker locations, expanding her current role as manager and event planner. She anticipates a bit of a learning curve with the expansion to the second location.
“Learning how to have a secondary location in addition to what we already have is a healthy challenge that I think we are ready to take on as a team,” she wrote.
The new location will feature more grab-and-go style food, as well as some classic items like Brioche Buns and Bun Egg Sandwiches.
Located at 266 and 270 Pine Street in Burlington, the Soda Plant was originally a bottling plant for the beverage company Venetian Ginger Ale, dating back to 1910. The buildings were later sold to Coca Cola for a time.
Soon after Coca Cola left the space in 1977, the building became a business incubator with spaces available for rent ranging in size, according to Steve Conant, manager and co-owner of the Soda Plant.
Conant and his wife Margaret Conant have owned and managed the Soda Plant since 2000.
Conant founded the metalworking business Conant Metal & Light Inc. in 1979. After initially renting a building space in the Burlington area, Conant purchased a building near the Soda Plant, and later expanded to also rent a space in the Soda Plant itself.
After renting in the Soda Plant for 10 years, Conant’s business had grown much larger and had become dependent on the plant for some of his customers.
“If I ever lost the lease I would’ve been in trouble, and so I offered to purchase the business complex,” Conant told The Campus.
After a few years, the previous owner of the plant sold the building to Conant, who was the building’s largest tenant at the time in 2000. While adjusting to his new role as owner of the building, Conant reflected on how he could maintain the small entrepreneurial spirit at the Soda Plant that he so loved.
“I always had great memories of those early years, renting a little space, surrounded by little spaces, in incubator spaces down the road. I found myself in an incubator space, and then owning the building,” Conant said.
An opportunity presented itself in 2018: Recycled North, a non-profit, donation-based used-good retailer, outgrew the building. When they moved out, they left 20,000 square feet of the 50,000 square foot complex vacant. Rather renting the now vacant space to a bigger company like a brewery, Conant decided to carve up the space and rent it as 12 individual smaller spaces, giving smaller businesses a place to launch.
“As an entrepreneur, I’ve always believed one’s business should stand on its own and bring value," Conant said. “My intent was to create an environment in which they could thrive on their own.”
The Soda Plant hosts a variety of events each year, all inspired by its tenants. The space hosts the annual South End Art Hops— a showcase of new artists and businesses that dates back 30 years and attracts over 30,000 people each September, Conant said.
“Many of the businesses that have come since 2018 are by design customer focused, and motivated by the value their brand brings to the market, and interested in pushing it out there,” Conant described.
Other tenants of the plant would have been disappointed if another food-oriented business did not take over Tomgirl’s old space, according to Conant.
Conant described Haymaker as a “perfect fit” for the space, and referenced its frozen buns as a strong business concept.
Speyers expressed her excitement to find new moments of community in Burlington.
“Something about Haymaker that I have always loved is the way people gather in our space — I have seen so many relationships form within our space and it's so rewarding to have a part in that,” she wrote. “I see us finding ways to be that in Burlington as well!”
Julia Pepper '24 (she/her) is the Senior Local Editor.
She previously served as a Local Editor. She is a Psychology major and French minor. This past spring she studied in Paris. She spent the summer interning at home in New York City, putting her journalistic cold calling skills to use at her internship doing outreach with senior citizens. In her free time she enjoys reading and petting cats.
