Virago Baking Company purely inspired

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By DAN SOKIL

A familiar business is coming to Lansdale’s Main Street.

On Thursday, Lansdale’s Economic Development Committee announced that Virago Baking Company & Cafe will be moving onto Main Street, with a new location at 322 W. Main expected to open in early July.

“I moved here over 10 years ago, and the whole time I’ve looked at Main Street waiting for it to be ready for renewal, and thinking, ‘If only I could open a place on Main Street,’” said bakery owner Regina Mason.

“A lot of our guests are from out of the area, so I know I’d love to be able to take the R-5 line and come from the city or Doylestown, and this gives us that flexibility as well as visibility and local exposure,” she said.

An all-natural cafe that specializes in gluten free, vegan and European-style baked goods, Virago is currently located at 620 S. Broad Street in Upper Gwynedd.

The bakery makes use of locally grown and organic products and will feature a lunch menu serving wraps, salads, soup, quiche, frittata, and gluten free pizza, according to a press release from Lansdale Borough.

Mason said she plans to renovate her new home to feature a new facade, outdoor cafe seating, and European-style flair.

She credited Mayor Andy Szekely and EDC chairman Ben Gross with helping sell her on Main Street.

“All of us are eager to welcome a bakery cafe to our downtown restaurant district. Regina’s customers drive great distances to get her product. Now she’ll benefit from the growing lunch time crowd as well,” said Gross, who called the move “another win-win for Lansdale.”

Szekely, whose chiropractor’s office is located just down Broad Street from Virago’s current location, said he’s also looking forward to the move.

“I go there at least two or three times a week, and she has little cafe tables set up inside but not many people sitting in there when I go over,” Szekely said.

“Now she’ll have her customers who come from far and wide no matter where she’s located, plus a slew of people coming in there from Main Street, and she just bought a nice, big, beautiful espresso machine I’m a big fan of,” he said.

The new Virago will also have classroom space to allow for cooking or baking lessons, Mason said, and she’s also working on an update to its Web site www.ViragoBakingCompany.com, which should be completed within a week or two.

“We should be open by the start of July, and I already have customers who really rely on us for gluten-free things saying, ‘I guess I should start making more room in my freezer,’” Mason said.

Virago donated a few dozen Gluten-Free “joy” cupcakes Wednesday March 31, 2010 for the Cupcakes and Cocktails event in Philadelphia, Pa.

The organizer of this event was Lauren Shapiro who was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease. She came up with this fun night of Cupcakes & Cocktails to help raise awareness; to participate it was $5 Cocktail special, $5 Wine special and $5 for suggested donations.

The event was held at APO Bar+Lounge (102 South 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107); all proceeds from the cocktail special were donated to National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. We were very pleased to be part of this event and can’t wait to do it again.