After a False Start, Cherry’s Goods Reopens in the CBD

Last August, we reported that Sydney loved Cherry’s Goods a little too much. The Tiktok-famous bakery closed its kiosk in The Galeries just 13 days after opening. But baker-owner Cherilynn Yap’s back – in a bigger space nearby, with capacity to bake on-site.

“Last time, we kept selling out way too early,” says Yap, who’s also behind Bondi’s Up South and Darlinghurst’s Kaska. “Now we are just constantly baking the whole day.”

The new space is tucked around a corner on the ground floor of The Galeries, near Black Star Pastry. And, just like the initial kiosk on the lower level, the “crazy” queues are in full swing just a week after opening.

The success is in no small part due to Yap’s online presence: over 600,000 people tune in on Instagram (with over 11 million likes on Tiktok) to her day-in-the-life content. Everyone’s here for the chunky cookies (choc-chip, Biscoff, Kinder Bueno, Nutella and more), filled croissants, carrot cakes and outlandish matcha creations – the best-selling pistachio matcha, or the newer banana pudding pour.

“I thought January was not a good time to open because people are on their New Year’s resolutions and trying to get fit – but I was wrong! It’s nice to see people coming down for a sweet treat – the most important thing for us is that customers leave the store with a fresh cookie, and now we are able to do that.”

Last year, Yap told Broadsheet her takings at Up South had tripled over a six-month period once her day-in-the-life videos started gaining traction online. But the quick closure of the first store illustrates another side to the role social media plays in our hospitality industry – the creation of crowd control and consistency issues.

“It was really crazy – just really overwhelming in the best and hardest ways possible. It was meant to be a two-man kiosk, but we had to try to fit three to four people in there. We didn’t have an oven on-site, so we were baking overnight. I was working 18 hours, and it was just really not sustainable.”

When the bigger, tucked-away space became available, she went for it. “We’ve already had a few calls from management to control the queue, but they’ve been supportive.”

There’s now a Cherry’s Goods app so you can order ahead, too. “I can never get used to it,” Yap says about the popularity. “I really don’t want to take it for granted – we started from the ground up, so it’s really surreal.” 

Cherry’s Goods
The Galeries, 500 George Street, CBD

Hours:
Daily 10am–5pm 

cherrysgoods.com
@cherrysgoods