Sweet Stop in Southampton
How Tate’s Bake Shop went from farm to fame.
By Kirsten Schimoler

As you drive by Tate’s Bake Shop on North Sea Road in Southampton there is a sort of magnetism that draws you into the bakery with its celadon sides and big, welcoming windows. Once inside, you are greeted with the smells of warm, freshly baked treats and overflowing baskets of cookies. Along with their signature crispy chocolate chip cookies, Tate’s offers other decadent options such as chocolate mini-cupcakes with fluffy butter cream frosting, apricot ginger scones, tangy lemon squares and an assortment of fresh fruit pies.

While you wait in line to purchase your treats, there is a generous bowl of imperfect cookies to sample. Outside, a flower-laden terrace begs you to take a moment to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee with a piece of perfectly spiced apple cake or a fudgy brownie.

Although Tate’s Bake Shop has been in business for almost 30 years, the endeavor began long before when an ambitious local farm girl set out to make a little extra cash. Eleven-year-old Kathleen King began baking cookies from the recipe on the back of a Toll House chocolate chip bag in her family’s farmhouse and set up shop at their North Sea Farms stand. Like many young bakers, King did not adhere to the strict rules of measuring or the science of baking but, with a touch of inaccuracy and luck, the cookies slowly came into their own.

“The cookies had uniqueness to them; they were big, which made them a draw,” says Kathleen’s brother, Richie King from North Sea Farms. “At the time we had cows on the farm. There was nothing like warm cookies with a fresh glass of milk.”

Cookie sales at the farm stand proved to be successful and continued on throughout her childhood. King eventually moved on to study hospitality management at SUNY Cobleskill, returning to Southampton to sell cookies each summer. Upon finishing school she returned to Southampton while looking for a job. That summer, in a stroke of good fortune, a fully equipped bakery came up for rent and King, then 20, decided to create her own job by opening her first bakeshop, Kathleen’s, on North Sea Road.

As one of the first bakeries of its kind in the area, King was able to gain a following throughout the community. During her time at the farm stand she had built a reputation for her chocolate chip cookies. Over time, with tweaks to her recipe and changes in her customer’s preferences, the signature cookies evolved from large, soft treats into the smaller, crispy morsels we know today. (For a short while, she sold both versions.) “I want to be the best you have
ever had. That is my goal in developing my products. Customers want to be able to come back time after time and have exactly what they had before,” says Kathleen King. Her awareness of her customers’ needs, paired with the strong work ethic she learned on the farm, helped lead to her early and continued success.

In 2000, after about 20 years of a thriving Kathleen’s Bake Shop, a dispute over a business arrangement caused King to dissolve her company. Through much tenacity and community support she was able to retain the bake shop, but instead of continuing on with her name she decided it would be easier to start from scratch. She wanted a name that was “local, American and homespun” and she had to look no further than her own father, Tate. While her father
was working on a potato farm in Southampton as a boy he earned the nickname “Little Tater,” for his small stature. The name “Tate” stuck with him and has been carried on through the King family as a nickname for her brother and on to her nephew.

From a young age, King’s father taught her to “think, use two hands and never give up on anything.” That was the spirit she wanted embodied into her new business that would bear her father’s name.

In these days of chains and corporate eateries, there is only one Tate’s, which remains in its original location. When asked what it means to be local, King responded that “growing up in Southampton allowed me to become a part of the community and creating a business here has made the community become part of me. Without the locals in this community I’d have no store. It is nice to know that among all the glitz and glamour the local spirit is still there.”

Through times good and bad the community has come to her side to lend support and help when needed. Members of the community stood by King and picketed in front of the bakeshop in support of her. After the seasonal crowds have left, loyal locals are there to sustain Tate’s Bake Shop.

While there is only one Tate’s location, having a storefront in Southampton has given King the opportunity to build a diverse following in and outside of the East End. Cookies from Tate’s can be found throughout Long Island and Manhattan in specialty stores such as Citterella, Whole Foods and most all of the local farm stands on the South Fork.

Butterfield’s Market on the Upper East Side has been carrying King’s cookies for almost 20 years and now contains a “store within a store” where one can find Tate’s pies, scones and cobblers while in Manhattan. All of the products, other than the cookies, are baked fresh on premise at Butterfield’s. According to Alan Obsatz, co-owner of Butterfield’s, “We are very selective when it comes to choosing what products we carry in the store. Tate’s products are wonderful and delicious. Many of our customers are familiar with Tate’s in Southampton and we have become a destination location to get those products on the Upper East Side.” If you find yourself too far out of reach of a buttery chocolate chip cookie you can order packages of cookies and bars online at tatesbakeshop.com.

All of the items in Tate’s Bake Shop are freshly baked every day in the shop, with the exception of the cookies. Due to the volume produced, the cookies are made in East Moriches. King is still deeply involved with the business and can be found at the bakeshop passionately working on recipe development and quality control. It is a wonder that, with a job that’s main focus is creating delicious cookies, she maintains her slender figure.

To develop her recipes, King looks to old-fashioned American desserts. “I don’t really create anything new or original, everything I make is quite traditional. If I am going to make a blueberry muffin I try to create the best blueberry muffin. Although I love creative, innovative foods, we do a huge volume at Tate’s so it is best to stick with the standards,” says King.”

Once King decides on a new item for Tate’s she first tests the recipe at her home in Watermill. After making the item over and over until it meets her standard of perfection, the recipe is brought into the shop to be made in large batches and tested by the bakers at Tate’s. To be bakeshop-ready, the recipes are scaled up dramatically, and often undergo more tweaks. Once the commercialized recipe has been perfected, it is tested by Tate’s staff and customers for about a month. If the new product succeeds, it may be added to the list of regular items in the shop.

To try your hand at King’s new recipes you may sign up for the Tate’s Recipe of the Month Club on the Tate’s Web site. There is also a Tate’s Bake Shop cookbook filled with crave-worthy images and easyto- follow recipes for the items that can be found in the shop.

“I don’t eat packaged or fast food,” King says, “and I wouldn’t use anything in my products that I wouldn’t eat.” The apples used in the apple cake come from the Milk Pail in Southampton and the eggs from her family’s North Sea Farms.

But King’s connections to her roots extend beyond where she buys her ingredients. After almost 30 years in the business, King says, “If I wasn’t raised on the farm, I wouldn’t have been able to handle the pressure of the business. At an early age I was taught to figure it out on my own and never cave in on a commitment. Having that knowledge really helped me work through the tough times in my early stages of business.”

Next time you are cruising along North Sea Road, let yourself be drawn into Tate’s Bake Shop to pick up some sweet treats. There is something for everyone to enjoy: the chocolate minicupcakes are just the thing gift for a kind hostess; freshly baked blueberry muffins will surely arouse any bleary-eyed guest; and a bag of chocolate chip cookies makes the perfect companion for an undoubtedly tedious ride up the island.

Kirsten Schimoler spent summers on the East End and currently works in product development, where she is constantly in search of the perfect chocolate chip cookie.