A new bakery is set to open in Albion, Brisbane in August. It will be taking over the former Brewbakers site with a tight focus on seasonal, small-batch pastries and precision-brewed coffee.

The business, named Time & Temp, is the project of Manning Young and Palita Cai, who have spent the past several years in Melbourne’s competitive food and coffee scene preparing for this moment. Now relocated to Brisbane, Albion offers the perfect spot for their bakery.

“Primarily because we’re living five minutes away in Lutwyche, and we’ve seen Albion change over the last, 10 plus years. It’s really becoming a fun place and the right place for us,” Manning said.

The pair describe the 45-square-metre space as “super small,” but perfectly suited to their needs.

“Honestly, the market for spaces that were the right size and had the right utilities—there wasn’t a lot,” Manning said.

“We were lucky to find a spot we like that was the right size. It’s kind of too small for anyone else to do anything with, but we wanted something super small, so it worked well.”

The name Time & Temp reflects the precision both coffee roasting and baking require.

“The name sort of came from both of us. I mean, at the time that we were brainstorming the names and the business, I was roasting. It [time and temperature] was something that we talked about a lot in the roasting daily discussions—when you’re tweaking the profile for a coffee, it’s always time this and temp that,” Manning said.

“And I thought, you know, for Palita, it would be kind of the same thing with baking. You see all those key parameters in recipe books. So, we just threw those two words together, and we both liked it.”

Palita, a chef and baker by trade, plans to keep the menu small and intentional.

 “I really want to use whatever is available seasonally. I want to keep it small. It’s just the two of us. A lot of the time people feel like they have to do everything to please new customers, but it’s made me think that I don’t want to stretch myself too far. I want to keep it small so that I can really focus and be intentional in what I do,” she said.

Manning echoed the sentiment: “I think it will largely be driven by the produce and then wanting to have some creativity. So, if a farmer is wanting to offload, we can start thinking and designing a menu around that—just have a bit of fun. It’s about serving stuff that people like and they want to come back for. But it’s also just as much as us making stuff we enjoy. It becomes a kind of shared passion—something in common with the customers.”

Although Palita is planning to keep it simple and safe with traditional French pastry at the start, there may also be subtle cultural influences appearing on the menu over time.

“I’d like to make some things with a Thai influence, but I want to test the water first. Maybe I’ll try a thing or two just to see what people think about it,” Palita said.

The road to opening hasn’t been easy. Manning and Palita have years long experience working in the hospitality industry. However, it was always working for a business. The Time & Temp venture would be their first experience as owners.

“The biggest challenge was really not knowing where to start. A lot of people in this business (hospitality) have decent financial backing and partnerships. But we didn’t have that,” Manning said.

“It’s a bit confusing at the start, you kind of fumble through, and you meet good people along the way. If you’re lucky, maybe we were lucky, you find good people willing to help you.”

Now, the space is nearly ready, and momentum is building.

“The most rewarding thing so far is seeing the space where it is now. We’re pretty much ready to roll in the equipment. We’re on track, we’re on budget,” Manning said.

“It’s also really cool to see other people writing about us like Broadsheet and Weekend Edition. It feels like for so long we’ve been pitching our idea to people, and now we kind of have others on board with us.”

Ultimately, the decision to launch was driven by timing, necessity, and the push to finally take the leap.

“We’d seen some new bakeries opening and it made us feel like we needed to get in and make a start,” Palita said.

“We’re never going to feel 100 per cent ready so we might as well just do it.”