Plant-Based Restaurateur Breathes New Life into Bakery

Pastries from Ginger Fox. Right: Jennifer Derosiers. (Courtesy of Ginger Fox)

Jennifer Desrosiers, owner of plant-centric casual restaurant, Laney & Lu in Exeter and Portsmouth was not planning on opening a bakery. While Desrosiers was looking for a location to expand her original business, the owners of the family-owned bakery Sweet Dreams, who were working with the same business broker, reached out to her about buying their business. After touring the space and seeing the opportunities, Desrosiers felt inspired to create an intimate artisan bakery.

Carrying on the 35-year legacy of Sweet Dreams, where she was a frequent customer, Desrosiers opened Ginger Fox in Stratham in September 2023. Ginger Fox’s diverse menu includes gluten-free, vegan and plant-based choices. Drawing inspiration from her travels through Europe, Desrosiers created a menu that offers items such as British pasties and French cakes and tarts. “It’s just such a big part of their community culture, and that’s something I wanted to bring back to the Seacoast,” Desrosiers says. “I wanted people to feel transformed once they walked in.”

But it’s European inspiration with a twist. Ginger Fox avoids using Canola oil, colorants or stabilizers and only uses organic flours and sugars. Coconut oil and avocado oil are used in crafting its sauces and aioli, and all dairy is grass-fed and organic. Items including honey, maple and meats are ethically and locally sourced when available.

Many of the items that are offered are accessible to customers with various dietary needs. By combining traditional baking techniques such as laminating croissant dough with creative alternative techniques, Ginger Fox is able to produce items with less sugar or without dairy. Desrosiers also offers a gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free cheesecake made from cashews. “One of my exciting discoveries of my own health and wellness journey is really understanding the power of plants and what you can do with plants,” Desrosiers says. “I think in traditional baking and food production we’ve become reliant on fillers and stabilizers and color, but you don’t need to do that.”

Ginger Fox is committed to sustainability and being zero-waste even though that carries higher packaging costs compared to other bakeries and cafes. All disposables that are given to customers are compostable, from packaging to straws. “Restaurants in general generate a ton of waste, and I wanted to do everything I could to limit that,” Desrosiers says. For more information, visit gingerfoxbakery.com.

Written by Ellie Lesch, a student at University of NH-Manchester and a participant in the Young Reporters Project, a joint venture of Business NH Magazine and UNH-Manchester to introduce students to journalism.