Three months ago, a new baker, Kandace Stauffer, joined the CGHS cafe staff. Three weeks later, she had changed the recipes for both brownie and pumpkin bites.

“I came in and tried the pumpkin bites, and I also heard that many students didn’t like them that much.” Stauffer said. “I wanted to change the recipe. So within the first week, I started making changes slowly to up our numbers for the brownies and changed a little bit of the pumpkin bite. Two months into it we’ve started changing things entirely and we’re gone with the old ones.”

In addition to changing recipes, Stauffer has also worked to ensure that the cafe does not run out of its most popular items.

“When I first came here to be the new baker, I heard that you guys always ran out of things and my goal was to never run out of brownie bites and everything,” Stauffer said. “So far, we’ve completed that.”

Stauffer has experience with bakery preparation work due to her extensive culinary background.

“I went to college in Philadelphia and from there I started working in a catering company in Philadelphia. After that, I started doing pastries professionally full time when I was 19,” Stauffer said. “Afterwards, I just kept going up into an executive pastry chef in LA, and then from LA, I came here.”

Her new pumpkin and brownie bites have received some positive feedback from students.

“We do get a bunch of kids once in a while who say that the brownie bites are more fudgier, and we get a couple comments on the pumpkin bites too. It’s really nice to hear,” Stauffer said.

Stauffer believes the changes she made have been beneficial.

“Our sales have drastically gone up. We had over 1,400 brownie and pumpkin bites sold yesterday. The students are definitely eating them fast,” Stauffer said.

Stauffer is continuing to plan new items and others changes for the CGHS cafe.

“Our next goal is just to add a little more variety in what we can give you guys [students]. I know there are a lot of options, but we’re trying for some healthier ones. We’ll also be working on seasonal flavors, similar to the pumpkin bites. We’re just going to keep working towards getting the pumpkin and everything situated and then once that hits, then comes the next spring and we’ll start introducing new things,” Stauffer said.