Local fruit stand turned bakery celebrates 18 years

DRIPPING SPRINGS  — Customers are greeted with the sweet smell of fresh cinnamon rolls and other pastries at 8 a.m. when Rolling in Thyme and Dough opens its doors. For nearly two decades, the bakery has served its customers with unique and flavorful goods.

Rolling in Thyme and Dough, though now an iconic aspect of Dripping Springs, began as a fruit and vegetable stand in 2005. Owner Fabienne Bollom noted that she and her then-business partner sold produce at a farmers market prior to obtaining the bakery.

After the produce stand came to an end, they realized that they had created a loyal customer base and wanted to continue serving them, so they asked themselves what was missing in Dripping Springs. The answer? A bakery.

Bollom was born and raised in Belgium, but has lived in Dripping Springs for 26 years: “People said, ‘Oh! She’s from Europe and we’re going to have croissants and we will have cinnamon rolls,’” said Bollom. “I didn’t really know, at the time, what a cinnamon roll was, so I said, ‘Okay. Let’s buy a bunch of recipe books and practice.’”

Eventually, she combined elements from various recipes and added her own spin to them until she created a cinnamon roll that she enjoyed — the process she does with many recipes when they aren’t passed down from family members.

“The recipe is what I like to eat,” explained Bollom. “I cook what I love most [and it’s like] you come to my home to eat … I hate dill, so you’re never going to have dill. I cook with, a lot of people say, what I hear people say a lot, is love. I am enjoying very much what I do. I have a pleasure to cook and bake and all that because you need to love it. If you don’t love it, don’t open a business.”

Some of these personalized dishes are her most popular. For example, Fabienne’s Eggs are exactly what they sound like: eggs made the way Fabienne enjoys them — soft, fluffy and with mascarpone or goat cheese. She also has a menu item dedicated to her son’s favorite breakfast, the Jerome Stack, which includes sourdough, bacon, three cheeses, vegetables, eggs and salsa.

The small familial aspects of her business are important to her. She described the business as family-oriented, explaining that both her daughter, Jessica, and son help run the business with her. Both of her children have entrepreneurial instincts in their blood. Jerome owns Grawlix Cocktail Lounge in Dripping Springs, and Jessica, though initially not picturing herself at the bakery, has taken on a managerial role in the business.

“It was not her first love, but she’s started little by little just [working] and I could not be more proud of her. I couldn’t be more proud of both of my kids. I’m a very lucky momma. I think they will understand the sacrifice I did,” said Bollom. “They respect that and they want to continue [the business].”

Though the success of the business is amazing, she never expected the bakery to end up where it has. According to Bollom, it began as pastries, then it added a sandwich, then another and then it added soup, lasagna and it just continued to grow.

“There were a lot of women [here] at that time and I heard someone’s husband say, ‘I’m sorry I cannot come to this place, it’s too sissy.’ And I thought, ‘No. No, you do not say that to me.’ So, then we started the roast beef and the meatloaf.”

Bollom strives to cater to all customers and is constantly working to bring community members new innovative ideas. She gets the opportunity to do this at her weekly Bistro Nights. They take place every Thursday and give Bollom the chance to simply have fun in the kitchen. She confidently stated that a visitor will never have the same meal twice if they attend Bistro Night. It is a time where she cooks whatever her heart desires and without measurements that night. Some dishes she has served, include braised short ribs, shephard's pie and stuffed shrimp avocado.

The support of community members is what allowed the business to grow as it has. Bollom explained that the response has been phenomenal and that they have “people who sit every morning at the same table [that they have] for most of 12 years … We just celebrated our 18th year and the response of people [was great]. We got flowers, notes and thank yous.”

Despite the overwhelming love, Bollom stated that she has seen and heard some of the comments regarding the occasional long wait time.

“I have the problem like everyone else; I never have enough employees, but the ones I do have work really, really, really hard. Not everyone understands that,” she said. “I [want them to] understand it’s not my fault. We try our best.”

Those sad moments are always dissolved by happier memories, explained the baker.

“We start at two, three in the morning to be ready at seven to have all the pastries ready and you come in and you’re like, ‘Oh my god. I cannot believe I need to do that,’ but then you start to make dough. You start to roll your cinnamon rolls and then you bake them,” she said with a smile. “[When they’re done] you bring them to the front and the icing is falling and then people walk in, the smell is great and people are like, ‘Oh my god! What is that smell!’ And they eat one and they’re like, ‘Oh my god!’ [Or] you create a new bar or new cookie and people are [so excited] and just to hear that and see that something came from rolling dough in your hand, I love that.”

As for the future, Bollom does not think too much into it, choosing to focus on the present day to maintain her joy; although, she does know that she wants to keep her business a “hole-in-the-wall as opposed to creating a franchise.”

“I want to continue the way it is. I have amazing customers, I have joy and I want to keep that,” said Bollom.

Rolling in Thyme and Dough is located at 333 West Highway 290, Dripping Springs and has a drive-thru at 31560 Ranch Road 12 Suite 101, Dripping Springs. For more information, visit www.thymeanddough.com.