Ori's Turns One

When Ori and Tom Reed started Ori’s Bakery and Cafe, they had a passion - and a plan. They set out to create a comfortable environment where customers become family while enjoying quality food prepared by hand, just for them. And after a year of hard work and a relentless passion to please, they’re excited to host their devoted customers - and to welcome new ones - as they celebrate their first anniversary with an expanded menu on Monday, July 1. 

"We consider ourselves to be maybe above average priced,” said Tom Reed, "but priced according to what we're trying to provide. Quality. You know, I have real people making the product every day. I'm buying real quality ingredients, and I'm paying rent. So, I have to cover that. But I'm not trying to be high-end. That's not our goal. Our goal is to just be high quality.”

Ori's growing customer base seems to appreciate that approach. The Ori’s team listens to their customers and tries their best to deliver. Ori even keeps a book filled with the special requests she gets from her customers. It’s loaded with meticulously organized notes.

"We’ve had a lot of requests for some additional breakfast items,” Tom said, "and that's good. We've installed two fryers. We're going to have French fries and onion rings and things like that to go with our sandwiches.”

Ori and Tom are deliberate in their approach. They won’t bring in an item unless they know they can produce it to their exacting standards.

“We felt that there was a need to have, even in a sandwich, something that is handmade,” Tom said. "To have that egg cooked when you order it, not precooked and in a warming bin waiting for you to show up.”

“Everything is made to order,” Ori said. "We don't have anything pre-made. We are not those big chains that has everything in a warmer. They pull the sandwich, they wrap it, and they give it to you. We crack the egg for you, you know? So that takes time. But you're going to have it fresh."

“That Angus Beef goes on the grill as soon as that ticket gets printed,” Tom said. "No sooner. Our goal is to provide something that's different. To make you feel welcome when you come in. It’s prepared for you upon order, and it tastes really good. And it gives you that someone cares feeling that you don't get anywhere else. I'm an accountant, I know numbers, I know how I can make way more money than I do on this restaurant, but it's not going to be what we want to do. It's not going to be our style, and it won’t be what our objectives are. And that's to provide something that makes people feel good about coming in. For me, it's the feeling of putting something here that meets our initial goal of creating community, creating a place where people feel comfortable. We've always wanted a place that you could just kind of feel comfortable in, that you can come in and get something fresh. You get treated like we want you here, like family. I think we've accomplished that mission. I mean, I hear it a lot that people feel really comfortable, that they love the quality of the product. That they can taste Ori's love in everything they eat because she will absolutely not allow anything that doesn’t meet her standards."

"We're going to serve more plated breakfasts because the island is asking for it,” Ori said. “We are planning to start that on July 1."

“Then there are a few other things like an Eggs Benedict,” Tom said. "We're going to have a couple of lighter sandwiches, like a chicken salad, tuna salad on homemade croissants. We’re trying to just expand the menu enough to cover what people have really been asking us about for the last year."

“Even though we made it one year,” Ori said, "what I cannot do is relax. I'm always looking for new recipes and having new things for the customers so they don't get bored.”

Tom can often be found pouring over his laptop when he’s not busy helping customers.

“I'm in my comfort zone being with people,” he said, "understanding people, playing with numbers like I do. Everybody sees me at the table when I walk in with the computer, and I'm looking at the sales and I'm looking at the trends, and I'm paying bills and looking at costs and doing the things that this accountant brain does. We track everything we sell by day, by item, by hour. When an item starts to slow down, we just sort of say, well, maybe it's kind of lived its useful life and we no longer need it, and we try to find something new to replace it with.”

Ori is unquestionably the star of the show. She’s most at home creating the products that keep the customers coming back for more. It’s not a responsibility she takes lightly.

"For me, the biggest pressure is the recipes, the product, because it's up to me what I make,” she said. “I hope the customer will like it. So, I feel a lot of pressure. Sometimes, I leave work and I'm still thinking about recipes, how to improve the recipes, what I change in the recipe. I want you to eat something that you like. Maybe you won't have those amazing French presentations. No. It's homemade, you know? So, I want that feeling. But still, I get home and I'm thinking about how can I improve the rosette? Or how can I improve the ganache? Or how can I come up with a new cream? The cream cheese frosting for my cinnamon rolls is real cream cheese and real butter. So, when you see the cinnamon rolls in the display case there's no frosting because I have the real butter and cream cheese frosting in a fridge next to the register. They scoop it, they put it in the microwave for 10 seconds to make it soft, and they spread it—and you're going to get it nice and fresh. I take pride in trying to do my best. I really care about the products. I really care about the ingredients that I use.”

Ori’s has found a huge demand for gluten-free products. True to her reputation, she has set about making the best-tasting gluten-free products.

"I have a lot of customers who thank me because there's a lot of places that don't understand how gluten-free works,” Ori said. “It is hard for people to find something good, something tasty, something that is not cardboard dry. Because the gluten-free flour is different, it's drier. It's all starch. My family, my mom, my cousins, are celiac, so I know how hard it is. My gluten-free items are my own recipes: the scones, the muffins, the cookies, the sugar cookies, the key lime pie, the crust for the pies. I have customers come here and tell me this is the best muffin I've ever had. I don't make a regular sugar cookie because I love my gluten-free cookie. I love the sugar cookie, and it's the one I use for my crust when I make my gluten-free key lime pie. I have people that try it and say they like it better than the graham cracker crust. It's because those gluten-free sugar cookies are so good. And it's what I use for the crumb. So, it is really good."

Ori has a simple philosophy that she passes on to her bakers.

"I want to cook as if I'm going to eat it,” she said. "I always tell the girls, when you make something, it's like you're going to eat it. And if you don't like to make it, just tell me. I'll find someone else to make it. It's not like we are robots. We don’t just make it. No, no. I always say that the bakery has a dream team, you know?”

Ori’s is located in the former Cocomo’s Grill location at 945 N. Collier Boulevard.