Gross Bakery and Gross Confection Bar chef and owner Brant Dadaleares has decided to close the bakery side of the business. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer The bakery inside Gross Confection Bar in Portland’s Old Port has announced it will close for good on Sept. 1.
A post on Instagram on Monday said that the decision was driven by staffing shortages. “We’ve been battling this challenge since COVID, and unfortunately, it hasn’t improved over the past year,” the post said. “I’ve spoken with 10 or 15 others – not just restaurants, every kind of business is in same boat,” owner Brant Dadaleares elaborated by telephone.
“ People are bouncing from place to place, whoever pays more. People jump ship really quickly.” Until it closes in a few weeks, Gross Bakery – which sits inside Dadaleares’ dessert-cocktail bar on the corner of Exchange and Middle streets – will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.
m. to 3 p.m.
There are no more Thursday hours. Dadaleares will do the baking himself for the few remaining weeks, as he said his morning baker, whose day begins at 3 a.m.
, has quit. The bakery, which opened in 2019 and sustained the businesses through the pandemic, won’t disappear entirely, however. Some baked goods will be offered in the evening at Gross Confection Bar, Dadaleares said, and he is planning occasional bakery pop-ups for weekends, featuring some of the bakery’s most popular items, among them an assortment of biscuits and scones, s.