By: Isaac Linsk, Follow South Jersey Intern
EGG HARBOR CITY, N.J. — Just out of eyeshot from the local NJTransit train stop sits a squared off building with a sandy colored exterior. Approaching its main glass door, a logo greets visitors with a simplified version of the building’s exterior surrounded by a heart with a single name underneath: Hammerbacher.
Hammerbacher, a combination of owner’s Lauren and Paul’s last names of Hammerschlag and Erbacher respectively, is a testament to the hospitality and quality of food that South Jersey has to offer. Inside the building to the left sits an artfully decorated lounge area where dinners and full meals have been served. To the right is the retail area where every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday dozens of assorted baked goods and other contemporary American fare is served from two to six P.M.
Front and center to the retail area is the dry erase board listing off the variety of specials and menu staples being offered that day. The streaks of marker and circles around sections lend the board to being visually similar to a university professor’s chalkboard at the end of the day. But the process behind the Hammerbacher team’s recipes is far from simple food cost math. The current state of Hammerbacher can be measured like evolutionary science as a result of the 10+ years of restaurant concepts that Paul and Lauren experimented with to get the bakery to where it is today.
Starting in 2012 down the shore in Margate, Fisch Kitchen was the first restaurant concept that the Erbacher’s worked on. Located next to the historic Downbeach Deli on the corner of Essex Avenue, Fisch Kitchen served locals and beachgoers alike with an inspired take on the seafood shacks that the Jersey shore is known for.
The concepts that the Erbacher’s produced were high quality and incredibly well received, but the constraints of working with partners or in a space they couldn’t fully manage did not work with the level of control the team desired for their product.
After three years and three separate visits they moved into their current space on Boston Avenue in June 2016 where they have been making bakery staples, pastries, and dishes authentic to them for the past 7 plus years.
“We started out with a huge account with Honey and Sweets farm, and they were getting like 100 pies a week, and then we were doing Linwood Farmers Market and a few other markets that were big for us. The ultimate goal was to do enough business out of here on our own that we didn’t need to maintain the wholesale accounts,” said Lauren.
Once the onset of the COVID Pandemic had forced the food and restaurant industry to evolve in early 2020, Hammerbacher evolved with it. Expanding the sitting room to space customers out and adapting to online orders during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
The participation in COVID safety measures and providing people with a hospitable environment and excuse to leave their homes was key to the bakery’s success.
“During the height of COVID, we were actually busier than we have ever been, the busiest that we ever were,” Lauren explains.
The demanding nature of the bakery kept the Hammerbacher team insulated from the pandemic, with 12 plus hour days happening throughout the week.
“Something happened out there that didn’t really happen to us,” Paul elaborated.
By the end of 2021, the influx of business caused a moment of reflection for the Hammerbacher team who decided to shutter their doors for the bulk of 2022 to focus on their health and to refine the concept.
The time away from the business gave the team time to evaluate what they were doing and what they wanted to pride themselves on. As long standing members of the food industry, Paul and Lauren wanted to reevaluate the hospitality they were providing customers with.
In order to keep pushing the boundaries of their business, they changed their name to Shugg.
Short for the yiddish word meshugganah (meaning senseless and crazy), the team wanted to lean into the experimental nature of their bakery by restructuring it into more of a cafe style business with the occasional dinner party.
Focusing more on the way they made people feel rather than the rigid structure of a fine dining establishment, the Shugg dinners were much closer to a dinner at a friend’s house rather than a night out on the town.
However, the constant concept change proved to put the team in a tricky situation. By building Hammerbacher up over the course of 7 years, they made their customer base fall in love with not just their product but their identity as a business.
While the expanded capabilities of Shugg allowed the duo to flesh out different ideas. The name confused their audience, who hadn’t realized the bakery was open at the same schedule for the six months they were operating as Shugg.
At the dawn of the new year in 2024, Hammerbacher was born again with its soft launch happening through an Instagram post and a new batch of merchandise that the team was waiting on at the time this article was written.
While still experimental, the business aims to refine the baked goods they’re known for and set a standard of care for the customers that make the trip out to 40 Boston Ave. in Egg Harbor.
The bakery is open on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 2-6 P.M. For more information, visit their Facebook and Instagram @hammerbacherkitchen.
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