Sydney Loved Cherry’s Goods a Little Too Much

Last week, Broadsheet took a Monday morning visit to Cherry’s Goods, the CBD kiosk from 27-year-old baker-owner Cherilynn Yap. She’s also behind thriving Bondi cafe Up South and the new-ish owner of Darlinghurst’s Kaska – and is adored online. Over 500,000 people tune in on Instagram (with over eight million likes on Tiktok) for her day-in-the-life content. But, just 13 days after opening, she’s (temporarily) closed Cherry’s Goods.

“We have made the very tough decision to temporarily pause our bakery in the CBD,” Yap wrote on Instagram. “But before we get to that, we have a 17-hour shift ahead of us.”

On day one, the team opened to immediate queues. People arrived pre-opening, waiting in a line snaking from the ground-floor kiosk up the halls and past Incu Mens. They wanted the chunky cookies, outlandish matcha creations and Biscoff-topped brownies.

Despite the lengthy line, Broadsheet writer Ben Hansen joined the queue at 10.05am, and was strolling away – Kinder Bueno cookie, brownie and strawberry matcha in hand – by 10.30am.

“We have honestly been blown away with such an amazing response from you guys,” Yap continued on Instagram. “There’s been a queue every single day, but the core purpose of why I started baking is I want to bring you guys quality baked goods. But if this is coming at the expense of our team overworking and quality being compromised, it won’t sustain itself.”

It’s a bold move by Yap, especially in the current economic climate. And it illustrates another side to the influence social media plays in our hospitality industry. In March, 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.

The powerful pull of the internet evidently creates new challenges – crowd control and consistency. A lot for a small, young team.

“Two of our pastry chefs are sick today and our stock levels are at an all-time low,” Yap continued. “I didn’t even bother preparing a prep list today because we have to make everything, so there was no point for me starting what was urgent – literally everything was urgent. Once I was done decorating the cookies for our Bondi location, I made my way to the front display and completely stacked it. Honestly it’s not a surprise because I am so clumsy, but this was so painful considering how low our stock already is.”

Although she’s paused service in the CBD, Yap hasn’t officially let go of the space. While the buzz continues in Bondi and Darlinghurst, the team is assessing what needs to be done – with Yap noting there could be a bigger pastry team, upgraded bakery equipment and a larger space on the horizon.

“I love you guys so, so much,” she finished. “We’ll see you at the next one.”

Management at The Galeries confirmed the Cherry’s Goods kiosk was closed, but did not provide further information.

Broadsheet reached out to Yap for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication. Additional reporting by Ben Hansen and Gitika Garg.