Life will be a little sweeter for faculty and students at the Truax Campus starting Sep. 30. That’s when the Bakery Store opens for the fall semester.

The student-run bakery has been a part of the college since Truax opened in 1998. Part of the Madison College Baking Program, the bakery serves to give students hands on experience in all facets of operation.

“Since the bakery store is part of the students’ curriculum, our goal is that the students learn many different aspects of the baking industry- production, sales, cost-outs, and customer service,” Baking and Decorative Arts Instructor Suzanne Daly said.

Daly explained that the Baking Program focuses on production baking, and that the bakery itself incorporates the retail aspect of the program curriculum. It also gives students real-life experience with customer service.

Daly’s tenure with the Madison College Baking Program began in 2010, when she joined Instructor Punky Egan, who has taught at the college since 1985.

Unlike commercial bakeries, the nature of the bakery as part of the curriculum means the focus is on education rather than consistency. While students are taught to produce large volumes of individual items, the variety will consistently be different.

“This is not a regular bakery that has the same baked goods every day. This is part of the students’ class, and the only items that go out in the store are those that are baked successfully by the students,” Daly said.

Each week the bakery store will feature special items based on what the students are learning in class. Daly encourages students and staff to stop in regularly to see what her talented students have been working on.

The Bakery Store operates Tuesday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m., and Fridays from 9 a.m.-noon.

New this year, the store will be accepting credit cards within the next week. Efforts are also being made to include student the OneCard as a payment method.