Rooted in legendary local bakery, The Plaza opens in Virginia Beach
Have you ever tried a Plaza Bakery petit four?
The legendary, bitesized almond-flavored cake covered in fondant, has been an iconic Virginia Beach dessert for over 60 years. The Freeman family opened the original Plaza Bakery in 1959 at Princess Anne Plaza Shopping Center.
Eventually, the bakery moved to Regency Hilltop and was purchased by Cristal Spellman in October 2020 from the Freeman family.
“I had not gone to the original Plaza Bakery,” Spellman said. “I bought it because it was the next step for me in my home bakery business. My kitchen was too small for the clientele that I built.”
A broker approached Spellman about carrying on a community staple that was in jeopardy of closing.
“It was my chance to start a dream of having a brickand-mortar bakery while continuing the dream of Plaza Bakery after Michael Freeman passed away,” Spellman said.
Since 2020, Spellman has continued baking one of Virginia Beach’s favorite sweet treats — the almond wedding cake petit fours — and added new flavors such as carrot cake, red velvet, chocolate and vanilla.
By January 2023, Spellman began thinking about expanding her bakery to other offerings. At first, she considered adding coffee, but then decided to offer a full cafe to better connect with her customers. Hence the new name: The Plaza.
“I wanted my customers to come in more,” she said. “Not just for special occasions. That’s why I added the café.”
The new bakery café opened in March in Birchwood Commons. The modern space, decorated with a greenery wall and epoxy flooring, still carries popular Plaza Bakery desserts in the glass case. Also, customers can watch bakery items get decorated through the framed glass window in the back of the café.
The Plaza has expanded to offer savory food items and lattes. Café offerings include soups, salads and paninis. Currently, shrimp chowder, buffalo chicken paninis and Cobb salad have been customer favorites.
New sweet additions to the menu include lemon bars, cream puffs, turtle cheesecake, baklava, carrot cake and red velvet bundtlets topped with cream cheese frosting and berry compote.
Spellman said the most popular dessert items are banana pudding, German chocolate squares and the sweet potato cream bundtlet (a sweet potato and cheesecake batter combo topped with a cream cheese frosting and drizzled with caramel).
“The sweet potato cream bundtlet is to die for,” Spellman said. “People just love it.” However, the classic almond petit fours still remain the top seller.
“In a day’s time, about 50% of our customers remember Plaza Bakery from childhood,” Spellman said.
“Even though our new name is The Plaza, to include food, desserts and coffee, the word Plaza is a name the customers will never forget.”
The Plaza is in the Birchwood Commons Shopping Center, 3762 Virginia Beach Blvd.