Internationally-recognized cult cookie brand Gideon's Bakehouse (Website | Instagram) announced it will be opening its second-ever location inside the Disney Springs 150-tenant shopping and dining complex in late 2020.
This will serve as the brand's flagship location. It's original location inside East End Market (Website) will remain open.
Owner Steve Lewis took Gideon's - with no funding, partners or investors - from a kitchen-based business in 2011 to having one employee and $800 in 2016 to winning Best Place in the World to get a Cookie from The Boston Globe and opening at an international destination in 2020.
"Exploring local food has become a large part of what it means to travel. We're proud to be representing the creative Central Florida small-business scene, which has grown so much over this past decade," says Lewis.
The menu for the new location will include an expanded assortment of cookie flavors (longtime favorites and limited editions during times daily releases), tall cake slices (including a new special line of Double Frosted Cakes), and iced coffees designed to pair with the baked goods.
In the evening, a Hot Cookie Hour will take place. In the morning, the Coffee Cake Cookie will be sold. This special cookie was previously available just one month per year.
Packaging will feature prominently in the guest experience: each product will contain collectible art.
The new shop will be located in the section of Disney Springs called The Landing. It's one of the major pedestrian crossroads within the outdoor complex. The shop will be located next door to Oakley sunglass store and across from Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar and Wine Bar George.
The interior will feature a whimsical Victorian design where Lewis says, "memorable sweets and whimsical atmosphere (will) exist hand in hand." The theming will build on their original location inside East End Market (Website). That location, bathed in "uncommon visual presentation," takes its inspiration from artists like Edward Gorey and the Disney theme park ride The Haunted Mansion.
The shop will also feature an immersive entertainment-filled queue described as a "transformative environment that will share our story as they progress towards the counter."
Gideon's buildout is being led by STUDIO 407 and its Hospitality Studio Director, Diana Chase, AIA. Chase is an Architect and Interior Designer with over 20 years of experience including several restaurant projects located within Disney Springs.
