Fort Collins’ newest bakery and cafe held its grand opening Aug. 10, offering baked goods, breakfast food, cafe drinks and more to its customers.
Trickster Bakery & Cafe, which is located on 1075 Pennock Place, is the result of founders Jenn Lewis and Shannon Morr’s nearly three decades of combined experience in the food industry and their shared passion for bringing people together.
Trickster began with a conversation between Lewis and Morr, during many years of working together at restaurants and coffee shops, about what they would serve if they could open their own place. Eventually, what was once a daydream between two coworkers became something serious.
“We always kind of just joked around about opening a place,” Lewis said. “And in the past couple of years, we started talking more seriously about it and decided to go for it. We wanted to do our own thing and be able to create our own space.”
Once their conversations started to turn into a business plan, they began to search for a location.
“(The previous owner) put it up for lease, and, probably the hour that he put it up, we jumped on it,” Morr said. “And it just luckily worked out because it’s our dream location.”
With their spot secured, the owners said they focused on creating the bright, playful and welcoming atmosphere they had envisioned. Instead of entering a traditional coffee shop, Lewis said wanted her customers to walk through the doors into a space of joy.
“My favorite thing is when people walk in and just, like, look around and smile,” Lewis said. “Like, it’s so bright and colorful in here.”
That same approach carried into their menu, as the owners wanted their backgrounds in baking and cooking to translate into food that was creative, flavorful and fun.
“We really wanted to focus on fun food,” Lewis said. “We wanted to do fun, and we were both very bold in our flavors.”
That fun-focused philosophy can be seen in items such as the pizza croissant, a nod to the Pizza Hut that used to inhabit 1075 Pennock Place, and the green chile cheese croissant, inspired by one of Morr’s early coffee shop jobs.
“We wanted to do fun pastries,” Morr said. “We have confetti cake and a pizza croissant that’s, like, an homage to Pizza Hut. I think we want people to have fun and feel welcome.”
Lewis and Morr also wanted to offer a comfortable place to stay together under one roof alongside their coffee, baked goods and food. Customers can meet with friends, get some work or studying done or simply spend time at the cafe.
“There are tons of coffee shops in Fort Collins,” Lewis said. “And then there’s a few bakeries, … but not many places combined both of them.”
After months of planning and preparation, Trickster has finally opened its doors. The first week brought more customers than Morr expected and gave the owners their first real look at how the cafe would operate.
“It has been incredibly overwhelming and very fulfilling,” Morr said. “The most rewarding part has definitely been just having people come in and be excited to be here and having strangers become regulars.”
Opening the cafe has also been a meaningful moment for both the owners and their families. Lewis said one of her favorite moments was seeing her family at Trickster on opening day after having watched her work toward the business for so long.
“It was just really nice to have them here and see what I’ve been working so hard at,” Lewis said.
Now that Trickster is open, the owners said they are focused on continuing to improve the cafe and build relationships with customers so that it can be a place where customers will feel welcome and want to keep coming back.
“It is genuinely like a lifelong dream come true,” Morr said. “So it means a lot — it means everything.”
Reach Jolynn Montiel at life@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.
