Gideon's Bakehouse at Disney Springs wins a Themed Entertainment Association award

Nov 16, 2021 in "Gideon's Bakehouse "

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Opening day at Gideon's Bakehouse Disney Springs

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Posted: Tuesday November 16, 2021 3:54pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Gideon's Bakehouse at Disney Springs has been awarded a Themed Entertainment Association award for "Themed Retail, Limited Budget."

Opening day at Gideon's Bakehouse Disney Springs

The massively popular bakery at Walt Disney World opened in December 2020 and immediately impressed with not only its cookies, but the exterior and interior design. The quirky and slightly sinister mood is wonderfully executed and goes a long way to elevating the experience of a visit to Gideon's.

Before opening at Disney Springs, Gideon's original location opened in late 2016 at Orlando's East End Market with one employee and an $800 budget. The Bakehouse quickly gained international recognition for its almost ½-pound, small-batch handmade cookies. Word quickly spread, and lines up to 80 minutes long became a regular sight – with locals and visitors alike all hoping to get their hands on their favorite flavor before Gideon's sold out.

Prior to opening, owner and creator Steve Lewis said, “We aim to make the wait in line entertaining by immersing everyone in a transformative environment that will share our story as they progress towards the counter. Experience is everything to us, so memorable sweets and whimsical atmosphere exist hand in hand. This opportunity is truly a dream come true and will allow us to flex all of our creative muscles in both desserts and decor. We’re passionate, inspired, and ready."

Opening day at Gideon's Bakehouse Disney Springs

The Thea Awards were founded by TEA in 1994. A Thea Award may be given to individuals, projects and technologies. To produce the official slate of recipients from hundreds of nominations received each year, the Thea Awards Judging Committee deliberates at length and then submits its recommended slate to the TEA International Board of Directors for final approval.

Gideon's Bakehouse Disney Springs exterior

The award to Gideon's Bakehouse will be formally presented in Spring 2022.

Chocolate Chip and Caramel

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DobergeMay 24, 2024

I enjoyed Lou Mongelo's interview of him last year. His story is great. I've mostly given him the benefit of the doubt throughout but not everything he says makes sense. I guess we'll eventually see what "secret things" he's talking about.

MissingDisneyMay 24, 2024

Agree to disagree. 😉

_calebMay 24, 2024

Price increases are only inevitable if the business is not making a profit or if the owner/management are greedy.

LilofanMay 23, 2024

Entry level pay is a slippery slope. A cast member with no exp can start in parks and resorts at least at $18 per hour. The same rate is paid to a TSA employee at MCO to ensure you and I have a safe flight and a slip up can mean life or death. One role has a bit more responsibility and stress than the other role.

MissingDisneyMay 23, 2024

Raise wages for all-10, 20% across the board. More? Of course-raises all around. Then everyone is getting paid better. What inevitably follows-prices of goods and services go up in relation so....everyone is back where they started.

jaklgreenMay 23, 2024

I never said that it wasn't legal. I said that it is a crappy thing to do. Way too many people are OK with this and that is sad.

_calebMay 23, 2024

I'm not sure this is the case. This statement is true. But I don't think it should be this way, or that it's necessary. Special skills may not be required to work at the bakeshop, but it seems to me that some people might have the personality, temperament, and aptitude that might make them more valuable to the operation than others. If I was running Gideon's, I wouldn't want the instability, costs, or risks of a revolving door of personnel. I'd want to make it possible for the best of the lot to stick around so my business could reliably provide excellent service over a long time. You don't get that by treating employees like cheap, easily-replaceable cogs in a machine. Right. But that's a choice Gideon's is making, isn't it? Aren't we all under the impression that their operating costs are lower than the revenue being generated? Yes. I just think it's sad.

LilofanMay 23, 2024

Steve is a rags to riches story. He opened up his first bake shop with one employee and $800 in the bank in 2016.

UNCgolfMay 23, 2024

It's essentially impossible for every single job in the country to be more than a minimum wage job. I'm certainly not opposed to people being paid more, but I acknowledge the reality of it. Working at Gideon's is an entry level job that requires no special skills of any kind; it's an easily replaceable position. People are never going to make any significant amount of money working a job like that. Anyways, it seems like Gideon's workers do make more than minimum wage.

LilofanMay 23, 2024

Since Unite Here 362 is representing the Gideons staff then its negotiating with company and union to agree on pay , etc and union paying members to vote to approve. It is not mandatory to join the union.

DobergeMay 23, 2024

I'm dubious about Steve's statement about not increasing his own salary and never taking a bonus and investing profits into "new and secret things." What a weird thing to say. By his own words there are lines all day every day. The big tips we've seen are presumably off big sales, and profit margins seem high for cookies and cakes (could be wrong here). So he either was taking a huge salary initially or he's sitting on a sizeable war chest to fund secret projects. And whatever that salary is, if he's truly happy with it then he can open just one more location and use the income from that to increase the salary of all his employees.

_calebMay 23, 2024

I know we have this debate every time there's mention of CMs or employment, but "if you don't like it, get a different job" doesn't seem like a great response to people asking for higher wages. What would we prefer–that people to not work at all because they're holding out for a management position? I get that this whole fandom is about something that falls squarely in the category of wants-not-needs, but it really bothers me how consumeristic everyone can be about people's work. The $6 cookies cost like $.30 to make. Gideon's has a line out the door nearly all day almost every day. If guests are feeling gouged and workers are feeling taken advantage of, can we not think of anything that could be done to address this? I, for one, would prefer to have a well-paid person who loves their job making and serving these cookies than an underpaid, indifferent (or worse) person who's just biding their time until something better comes along.

lazyboy97oMay 23, 2024

Decent and legal are not the same thing. One can think it’s not decent without concocting legal intents that are clearly not present in the criteria laid out by the Fair Labor Standards Act.