Andrews Bakery in Easton Building More than Bread for Over 30 Years

Julie Andrews, co owner and operator of Andrews Farm and Bakery, has been making repeat customers out of the town for over 30 years.

“Construction was really big at the time and I still remember someone bringing in a two-by-four with the list of sandwiches they wanted made,” she said.

Andrews said she originally went to school at Stonehill College for Sociology and taught at Brockton High School for a number of years. At the time, she and her husband Robert had a dairy farm and sold raw milk, but thought opening a retail space may better suit the business.

“It evolved into Andrews Bakery,” she said.

Andrews said that despite moving twice ,she has seen some of the same customers at her store for decades. She thinks it’s the small touches that keep people coming back.

“Our main thrust is real whipped cream,” she said. “It’s not ultra pasteurized… and it’s 40 percent butter fat, that’s why it tastes so good.”

Andrews said that she has seen people grow up through the years in Easton and added that it is one of her favorite parts of the business.

“I think the exciting thing is that we’ve had customers since day one that are still with us,” she said. “We’ve made their engagement cake, wedding cake, baby shower cake and then their graduation cake. We’ve done a full generation of people and we have the same people coming in form the very beginning.”

She said that some customers even have some habitual orders that have stood the test of time.

“We’ve had this one customer coming in for 20 years and he orders the turkey sandwich every single time,” she said.

The business itself started out as a combination bakery and butcher, in which she and her husband baked and their business partner at the time butchered. After six months the butcher did not want to stay and the couple took over the location.

“We started with the bakery making cookies and things like that,” Andrews said. “Then we did anything people asked us to do; you wanted a pie, we made you a pie, you wanted a cake, we made you a cake. We grew the business that way.”

The original building was at 19 Belmont St. and was cramped, according to Andrews.

“It was squished in there and it was a challenge,” she said. “The marketplace [on Washington Street] became available, and we were in the marketplace for four years.”

They bought the property and built a Timberframe, structure for both the visual appeal and for the ” green factor”.  The building  is eco friendly, and uses the minimal use of energy to cool or heat the building.

The building, she said, was designed to capture the heat or the cold, depending on the season. The store itself is built completely out of wood, with no nails and has an interior wall built with Styrofoam in the framework that distributes heat from a wood stove.

“It’s cool in the summer and warm in the winter,” she said. “The way it moves the air, it’s amazing how it heats the whole thing. We haven’t had to put fans in because it moves and heats the place up really well.”

Andrews said one of the challenges in her profession would be the precise nature of baking. She said one small change in the mix can make a huge difference in the taste of the finished product.

“My husband, coming from being a carpenter master, he measures everything very precisely and you really need to do that in baking,” she said. “Baking is critical as far as chemicals go you put in too much water, baking soda or yeast, it messes everything up so you have to be really accurate.”

Andrews said people often comment on her now very famous name, and added that she was even surprised before the wedding.

“It wasn’t until we were already engaged that I put the two names together,” she said.

Andrews said that the business also does outreach programs for the community, working with the Easton Lions Club for benefits as well as High School fundraisers and functions.