Love By The Slice Bakery

Tacoma, WA

When we had the chance to work with a local bakery to design their flagship production and retail space we jumped at the opportunity to help talented baker, Cassandra Williams, bring her vision to life. After years of running her specialty cake and dessert catering business out of a shared community kitchen, Love By The Slice will soon open its first brick and mortar bake shop in Tacoma’s Hilltop business district.

The storefront at 11th and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way will be the first of three bakeries planned for Tacoma. Love By The Slice not only hopes to create jobs in Tacoma, but also empower youth and community members with opportunities to learn the craft of custom cake baking, design, and decoration as well as business and entrepreneurship skills.

We are thrilled to design a retail environment and bakery where this business model can thrive. As small business owners ourselves, we are passionate about finding thoughtful ways to make cost effective yet big impact interior design moves. Using the brand colors and logo heart shape in a variety of ways, we developed a few key elements to pop against the overall minimalist interior.

The point of sale counter is wrapped in plywood with a red contrasting reveal detail at the seams. The white quartz tops at the tasting tables serve as a blank canvas for the bakery’s colorful creations, while the wood banquet and red chairs provide seating that balance comfort and cleanability. An idea of the owner, each side of the square column near the bus station features four words that convey the business ethos: integrity, celebration, quality, and community.

After learning about the bakery workflow and the existing space, it was clear that the cake decorating and finishing station should be located between the commercial kitchen and the storefront café. As the spatial and metaphorical heart of the business, this area is housed in a red volume at the center of the space. Above the wainscot paneling, red framed glazing directs views into the beating heart of the business.

Love By The Slice is a Tacoma bake shop specializing in specialty cakes, cookies, bars and cupcakes. This almond pound cake is the first of our ‘Cake of the Month’; club membership. Sign up for regular cakes or become a site champion.