Courtesy Scott Rinaberger
A selection of sweet brioche pastries from Pioneer Bakery Cafe
Photo by Pat Eby
Owners Sheila and Scott and Rinaberger
Scott and Sheila Rinaberger are bringing “new beginnings” to the former Kirkwood location of McArthur’s Bakery. The owners have announced that they are converting the shuttered space into a new concept, Pioneer Bakery Café, which will not only feature signature baked good and new items for breakfast and lunch but will also do so while helping those in need.
With a mission of “baking new beginnings,” Pioneer Bakery Café is a partnership between McArthur’s Bakery and Lafayette Enterprises that aims to empower and train people with intellectual disabilities, a group that is vastly underrepresented in the workforce. As Scott Rinaberger explains, the idea for the social enterprise has been in the works for about a year and was inspired by a venture run by friends of the family who had set up a business to help their son.
“Some friends built a business for their son, who has intellectual disabilities, and now they have 15 or 20 employees working for them," Rinaberger says. “We started asking ourselves about a year ago, 'Could we do this?' and here we are. We have this fully equipped space, and we wanted to see what good we could do with it.”
Courtesy Scott Rinaberger
Italian cold meats with arugula on foccacia
Though Pioneer Bakery Café will operate out of a space that previously housed a McArthur’s Bakery location, which closed in January of last year, Rinaberger describes the new concept as having a separate identity from its predecessor. He and Sheila have hired a new executive chef (whose name they plan to announce in the next few weeks), who brings with him a host of recipes and a knack for bread-baking—something Rinaberger is particularly excited about.
“McArthur’s isn’t a bread bakery; we’re a cake bakery,” Rinaberger says. “This is going to allow us to be a bakery with its own personality. Our executive chef is doing all the baking on site and using his recipes and vision of what pastries should be, as well as his own rustic bread baking, which allows us to do a really robust breakfast and lunch.”
Courtesy Scott Rinaberger
Foreground: Smoked salmon sandwich on foccacia with spinach and cucumber-citrus spread. Background: traditional caprese
Though food is Pioneer Bakery Café’s organizing principal, the heart of the operation is the on-the-job training that employees will receive. Though much of that will revolve around actual job skills, Rinaberger believes the program is particularly great because it focuses on the whole person. In addition to learning how to run the dishwasher or bake bread, employees will spend half of their time in an onsite classroom where they'll learn such life skills as small-group interaction, critical thinking, and problem-solving.
While opening the restaurant in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic has presented its share of challenges, the Rinabergers never thought twice about whether they should proceed as planned. They’ve had to tweak their planned rollout (employees participating in the program will join the team in a few months, as opposed to right away, as originally planned), but Rinaberger believes the mission is too important. He sees any adjustments they might have to make as the natural progression of a new concept finding its identity, one he’s sure St. Louis will embrace.
“One lesson we’ve learned is that St. Louis is really into boutique bakeries,” Rinaberger says. “People want niche type things. McArthur’s is back to its roots as a cake bakery, and this one will evolve into its own niche too, to be determined.”
Pioneer Bakery Cafe is expected to open sometime next month.
