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Photo by Darlene Wong Cancell. Sheldon Strasnick (left) and Josh Strasnick (right) stand outside their newest of five family bakeries, expected to open in late spring or early summer this year in Islington.
3-28-2022 12:30am
Muffin House Cafe to Open in Islington in Late Spring/Early Summer
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Sheldon Strasnick says he started in the bakery business at the age of ten. He learned how to bake from his father. His memories include going into the family shop in the middle of the night and falling asleep on the flour bags. Now, he finds himself preparing to open a Westwood location of his family business, Muffin House Café, in Islington. It will be the fifth storefront of his family owned chain. Josh Strasnick, his son, works alongside him.
“We get along great,” Sheldon Strasnick says.
Josh Strasnick adds, “At the beginning, not so much. It definitely took some working at it.” They both laugh.
“He was a young, hot-headed teenager,” says the father.
The son readily admits it. “I was a college kid that’s like, ‘I know all of the answers.’ But you know, in reality, experience a lot of the time can trump knowledge.”
Sheldon Strasnick’s experience includes opening up a bakery in the wee hours of the morning every day for many years. “I was in 3:00 a.m. every single day, I was working with everybody, [] waiting on customers, and making the coffee and doing all that,” he says.
Since a heart surgery last year, Sheldon Strasnick remains very involved but calls himself “semi-retired.” Josh Strasnick interjects to say that this means that his father is now working 40 to 50 hours a week instead of 70 hours a week. “That’s why I feel most of our staff really respect[] him,” says Josh Strasnick. “Because he was willing to wake up at three o’clock in the morning and do that dirty work.”
But what worked in the past, doesn’t work now that the family business has grown. “We’re getting too big for that. We just don’t have a little mom and pop store anymore. That worked then, but now we’re going on our fifth location,” says Sheldon Strasnick. “My belief as owners, especially with five locations, we have to work on the business, not in the business. . . . If I didn’t have the surgery and step back, I don’t think Westwood would have ever happened, because I was too busy on the everyday working behind the counter.”
The elder Strasnick is still working full-time hours, but is trying to work more in the management side of the business. He is trying steer his son in that direction as well.
“He doesn’t want me working behind the counter and on the bench, even though I’m not opposed to it. When the time calls for it, of course I’m going to do that, but he wants me to take more of an administrative role, run the business,” says the younger Strasnick. That means creating more revenue and efficiencies, he says. For example, Josh Strasnick has provided help with technology, and his father credits him with bringing the option of online ordering to Muffin House Café.
Sheldon Strasnick notes that Westwood will potentially be the busiest of all Muffin House Cafe locations, due to where the new store is sited. It sits at the northeast corner of Washington and East Streets, as a tenant in the building that has been newly constructed as part of Islington’s mixed use development.
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The Strasnicks expect to hire twenty to thirty employees to staff the new store. One of the employees will be Sheldon Strasnick’s nephew, Ken Enos, the store manager. Other family members already work behind the scenes. Brooke Strasnick, Sheldon’s daughter, helps with administrative work, payroll and filing. Michelle Strasnick, Mr. Strasnick’s ex-wife, helps to run the store and decorates.
Sheldon Strasnick’s father has also contributed to Muffin House Café. When customers enjoy a Muffin House Café offering, they may be biting into one of his recipes, with some modifications by his son.
The Muffin House blueberry muffin, however, is based on the Jordan Marsh recipe. Mr. Sheldon Strasnick was vice president of the Massachusetts Retailer Bakers Association when the Jordan Marsh blueberry muffin creator shared the recipe with him and other bakers. He then put his own spin on it.
“Before I started Muffin House, I had a bakery in Wayland. And a customer came in one day and said to me, 'These are the best blueberry muffins I’ve had since Jordan Marsh!'. . . So we started using it. We’ve been using it ever since,” he says, referring to his advertising tagline, “Home of the Best Blueberry Muffins Since Jordan Marsh.”
Along with blueberry muffins, the Strasnicks say their breakfast sandwiches are a “huge hit.” The shop will also sell cakes, pastries, and thirty flavors of coffee.
Like the other Muffin House Café locations, the Westwood store will have a fireplace with television, seating area, and couches. There will be an outdoor patio seating area and free WiFi. They hope to welcome everyone, including families, students doing homework after school, and older people who may like to sit with a cup of coffee during the day.
Originally, the Strasnicks thought they could open in March this year, but supply chain delays pushed the projected opening to April. On one Friday afternoon, Sheldon Strasnick expressed some frustration. He had been at the site for two hours and no one was working at construction. At that time, he cited a labor issue as a reason for lack of progress. Now, as April approaches, and the buildout is taking much longer than expected, it looks like a May opening.
When the store is finally completed, the Strasnicks say they plan to be open seven days a week, beginning at 5:00 a.m. each day. They are excited to be in Westwood and can’t wait for opening day.
Thanks to Mr. Sheldon Strasnick and Mr. Josh Strasnick for speaking with Westwood Minute.
