Croissants, cruffins and breakfast smash burgers: Dani O Bakeshop rises from the Capitola Mall

A new bakeshop is on the rise, bringing golden loaves of sourdough and organic pastries to restaurants, cafés and farmers markets throughout Santa Cruz County from a home base inside the Capitola Mall. 

If you haven’t heard of Dani O Bakeshop yet, just give it a couple of months. Word of 35-year-old baker Danielle Orlando’s airy yet chewy croissants, twisted sugar-dusted “cruffin” morning buns and well-structured sourdough bread – all made with organic ingredients, healthy fats like butter and olive oil, and without refined sugars – has spread like a ball of cookie dough in a hot oven since the bakery opened inside the food court at the mall in September. 

Behind the scenes, Orlando boasts 17 years of pastry experience at baking institutions in the Bay Area, including Outerlands and Craftsman and Wolves in San Francisco and Flea Street in Menlo Park. From 2015 to 2017, she was head pastry chef at The Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, a demanding position that also taught her valuable high-volume back-end skills, like how to fire 300 crémes brulées at once. “It was a great experience, and ultimately the one that drove me to break out on my own,” said Orlando. Not long after, she started her first business, That Donut Girl, offering seasonal spins on classic donuts at the Half Moon Bay farmers market. 

Her kiosk in the mall was once the home of Sbarro, and Orlando has put the old pizza oven to work. A range of glutinous treats like plush blueberry muffins made with olive oil and chocolate croissants filled with White Label dark chocolate, are available to in-person customers three days a week. Fridays through Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., visitors will find a full range of classic breakfast pastries like different kinds of croissants, chocolate chip cookies and cruffins – a morning bun made with leftover croissant dough – as well as sourdough bread in the form of round boules or sandwich loaves. In an old-school touch, loaves can be sliced on site for an extra $1. 

On Saturday and Sunday, Orlando offers a short brunch menu. The breakfast smash burger has become a signature offering since it launched in March, with a smashed Italian sausage patty, gooey Gruyère cheese, an oozing fried Glaum Egg Ranch egg and a vinegary sage chimichurri. She has also experimented with a meatball sub with housemade marinara on polenta, somehow contained with a croissant’s fragile edges, and continues to grow her menu. This summer, she’s adding organic Straus Creamery soft serve ice cream on homemade cones, with a gluten-free option. 

Orlando is brimming with ideas, and willing to experiment to see what works. But exploring different avenues isn’t due to a lack of focus, she said. “The ultimate goal is to create a healthy lifestyle for me and my daughter,” said Orlando. “I’m always asking, what will yield that result the quickest and easiest way, while making a great product?” 

Despite her long baking career, after she had her daughter in 2020 and got a divorce, Orlando realized she could no longer balance the brutal 12- to 14-hour baking shifts with motherhood. Unable to go back to the kitchen, she became a real estate agent. In 2021, she moved to Santa Cruz, a place that felt like home after spending her childhood visiting her grandmother at her home in Soquel.

But after a few years, she was pulled back to the craft she loved. “I was doing well, but I couldn’t shake the baker,” said Orlando. She started Dani O Bakeshop as a pop-up with Friday pickups at a local rental kitchen, and word of mouth spread. Orlando never expected to establish herself at the mall, but when she saw the old pizza oven, she said she knew she could make it work. 

An affordable rent that would allow her to grow sustainably and a kitchen already fitted with equipment sealed the deal, and being surrounded by other mom-and-pop food kiosks was an added perk. When Dani O opened at the end of September, it joined a hub of local food businesses in the shopping center, including Coffee Conspiracy, Ramen Kaito and Taquizas Gabriel. 

“Don’t ask me ‘Why the mall?’ anymore,” Orlando said. “I’m going to say, ‘Why not?’ I’m still going to do everything I want to do in this space.” 

Since the beginning of the year, the wholesale side of Dani O has grown through partnerships with Santa Cruz restaurants the Grille at DeLaveaga and Suda to provide baked goods and bread for their breakfast and brunch menus. In February, it became the exclusive food provider for Marea Sol, a café inside the Marea Sol Hotel, across the street from Main Beach next to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. 

Starting in May, Orlando will offer frozen croissants and cookie dough at the farmers markets in Live Oak, Scotts Valley and Los Gatos for customers to bake at home. 

Every month, Orlando continues to broaden her menu at her mall headquarters. Soon, it will include sandwiches and grab-and-go breakfast items like parfaits, and she plans to obtain a beer and wine license to make mimosas. She’s also on the lookout for investors and aiming to hire a right-hand person with serious baking skills to help Dani O grow. She also plans to expand her hours to Wednesday and Thursday later this summer. 

As she builds her business, Orlando strives to balance creating quality products with her own quality of life. Entrepreneurship requires rigorous time and energy; she typically wakes up at 3 a.m. to bake and personally deliver to her accounts before her daughter wakes up. Then Orlando will take her to school, work at the bakery all day, and often bring her back to the bakery in the evening, where her daughter will chat with customers and mold shapes out of bread dough. 

Despite the long days, as a business owner Orlando has the freedom she needs to raise her family, and aims to be a role model for her child. Said Orlando: “I’m getting to chase my dreams, and she knows she can chase whatever dreams she has, too.” 

1855 41st Ave., Capitola; daniobakeshop.com. 

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