Solon bakery plans second location at University of Iowa

The Eat Shop’s Iowa City location will offer new lunch menu

May. 9, 2023 6:15 am

Cheryl Maloney fills kolaches with homemade berry jam at The Eat Shop in Solon on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. The bakery started out as a restaurant run by the owner's great aunt Mary Ann Drahos and her five sisters. (The Gazette)

IOWA CITY — The Eat Shop, Solon’s boutique bakery, is opening a second location soon in Iowa City.

The new location, located at the University of Iowa’s College of Law, will open Aug. 14 at the Boyd Law Building near Byington Road and Melrose Avenue. With weekday hours for breakfast and lunch through the academic year, the expansion will open just in time for the fall semester.

The site will serve sweet breakfast options and pastries, plus a new menu of personal-size pizzas, gourmet sandwiches, freshly baked rolls, salads and more.

The new space will replace The Court Cafe by Bread Garden, the previous vendor in the Boyd Law Building. The Eat Shop’s one-year contract will have options for renewal up to five years.

“I believe it will be a huge value to us and to them,” Eat Shop owner Cheryl Maloney said. “Stakeholders wanted to add value . . . because they wanted it to be a food destination, not just a place to grab something to eat.”

This is the second expansion for The Eat Shop, but the first time opening a second location. In September, the bakery started offering its cookies, cinnamon rolls, pecan rolls and kolaches at Sidekick Coffee & Books, 1310 1/2 Melrose Ave. in Iowa City.

“We’re going to keep that same level of what you’d expect from The Eat Shop — high quality, high-end ingredients,” Maloney said. “That’s what we’re going to deliver to them for lunch.”

Maloney said the bakery has actively been seeking a second location for more than a year. The business previously explored a franchise opportunity with other entrepreneurs, but decided that wasn’t the right fit.

Previously, The Eat Shop forged other partnerships, including Dan and Debbie’s Creamery in Ely and The Crosspark Hy-Vee in Coralville. The Eat Shop opened in Solon in August 2021, bringing back old family recipes from Cedar Rapids restaurant owner Mary Ann Drahos.