TikTok-famous Ontario home bakery moving into new commercial space next month

A popular home-based bakery in Ajax made famous by a TikTok review and then forced to find new digs over zoning and parking issues will be on the move next month to a new storefront in Pickering Village.

Biscuits to Baskets – which saw its sales boom following a visit to its Beatty Road location from influential food blogger Keith Lee last year – transitioned to a pre-order and appointment-based system in August, with a deadline of mid-October to find a commercial space for the business.

That deadline was extended to November 13, which gave owner Suzanne Smith enough time to find the new space at 109 Old Kingston Road #9.

“It allowed us to continue to sell our stuff until we set up our new space,” she said.

Suzanne and Colter Smith

Smith and her husband Colter looked at other locations but settled on the spot in Ajax’s Pickering Village, a community with more than 200 years of history that was at one time the main commercial centre for Pickering Township before being absorbed by the Town of Ajax in 1974.

“This one worked out the best. It’s still Ajax and we like serving our Ajax customers.”

The bakery and café, located on Beatty Avenue in a residential neighbourhood, has had to move to a Calendly link, allowing the business to organize orders and pickup times while they wait for the go-ahead for the new location.

“It’s not our favourite way to do business but this still allows us to interact with each other even briefly,” Smith said.

The current location on Beatty Avenue

Biscuits to Baskets has been in operation at 49 Beatty Avenue since 2003 and the business was moved to a backyard shed before the pandemic to create an easier pick-up location.

Locally popular and known for its wide selection of handmade confections, including its chocolate barks and dipped treats, caramel apples, turtle cheesecake and sponge toffees, all was well until TikTokker Lee (and his 17.2 million followers) visited in the spring of 2024 and raved about the Korean Sponge Toffee (8/10) and cake slices (7/10) and especially the “over the top” service from the Smith family.

The next day the shop was flooded with customers and the street was heavy with traffic, bringing the attention of Town of Ajax by-law officers who told Smith she could not no longer operate out of the backyard.

“We’re just waiting for the permits so we can get started,” Smith said of the impending move. “We cannot wait until November for our new location.”

The new location on Old Kingston Road