Award-winning pastry chef, Lauren Moran, is bringing her passion for mouth-watering pastries, breads, and desserts home to Hamilton, as well as delicious local, organic products to Honeycomb, opening at 248 Bay Road in June 2017. Moran, along with her husband, Billy Moran, are opening the bakery and café. Lauren’s father, Jim Kroesser, a local attorney, bought the former site of The Hungry Fox and the family is busy converting the site into a space for a commercial bakery, café and gift shop. Chef Lauren says she’s calling the café “Honeycomb” because she sees this venture as family working together to make a beautiful, natural product, just like bees work together to produce sweet honey. Honeycomb intends to carry honey from all over Massachusetts and New England in their shop, as well as chocolates from Fixx in Newburyport, teas from MEM in Watertown, and cheeses from all over including, Jasper Hill Creamery in Vermont, Grey Barn on the Vineyard and Cricket Creek Farm in Williamstown, to name just of few of the partnerships Moran has planned for the venture.
Pastry chef Lauren Moran. Photo by Michael Harlan Turkell.
Moran was most recently the executive pastry chef at Eastern Standard Kitchen & Drinks, The Hotel Commonwealth, Island Creek Oyster Bar and Row 34. She studied her craft at Boston University’s Gastronomy program and studied under Jaques Pepin and many of Boston’s top chef’s. Her baking has earned her recognition in Zagat, Food and Wine Magazine, the Boston Globe and Boston Globe Magazine. Lauren grew up in Wenham, Massachusetts, and learned to cook from her large Italian family. Her passion for baking came out during college where she would find herself in the kitchen whipping up cakes, pies, cookies to relieve the stress of her studies.
Honeycomb is a true family affair—along with helping to start the business, dad, Jim Kroesser intends to start his day at 6a.m. whipping up eggs for early riser’s breakfasts before heading a few hundred steps in front of the café to his law office. Mom, Mary Kroesser, along with many aunts and friends have been traveling around New England with Lauren looking for locally-sourced products to enhance the provisions the shop intends to stock: visiting Farmhouse Pottery in Woodstock, Vermont and Mill River Winery in Ipswich, and many places in between. A best friend has designed the business logo and online presence, and husband, Billy, intends to barista on weekends.