Roggenart Bakery Cafe and Bistro is ready to unveil its new location at RTC West.
The bakery will begin serving coffee and its artisan pastries at 12130A Sunset Hills Road next week, with an official opening scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 21 at 10:30 a.m.
The grand opening celebration will include complimentary coffee, pastry samples, a tour of the new space and a ceremonial ribbon-cutting and breaking of “the largest croissant in Virginia,” Roggenart announced today (Wednesday).
Local community leaders like Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn and Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Charles Kapur are expected to attend, along with Roggenart owners Neman Popov and Brody Tennant.
When looking at possible locations in Fairfax County, the business team was drawn to Reston — and specifically RTC West — by its mix of housing and offices, promising a varied customer base of both workers and residents, Tennant told FFXnow in a recent interview.
“It’s a very vibrant area. There’s a lot going on,” he said. “People are excited because there’s new developments, there’s new buildings, there’s new concepts. So, the energy is really great there, and it’s also walking distance from the downtown Reston area as well. So, you get a little bit of all flavors at that location.”
Bearing a German name that translates to “the art of rye,” Roggenart was started in June 2017 by Popov, former CEO of Serbian food maker Centroproizvod. Since then, it has added multiple locations in Maryland and Chicago, with its first Virginia bakery opening in Arlington in the spring of 2024.
According to Tennant, the overall design of each location trends toward a “natural,” homey look with their use of wood, brick and stone, but there are variations in lighting, seating arrangements and other elements based on the space.
Like the other locations, the Reston shop will offer shelfs of free books that can range from cookbooks to fiction and anthropology texts. Roggenart supplies the initial materials, but as time goes on, the goal is for the community to get involved in shaping the collection, with customers leaving new books when they take one.
“It makes it kind of fun,” Tennant said. “People come in, and they want to see what their next read will be, and if they have a book that they really enjoyed, they’ll leave it as well for somebody else to enjoy.”
When it comes to food and drinks, Roggenart maintains the same menu across all locations. Beverage options include coffee, tea and espressos, while sandwiches, omelets, salads and soups are available for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Known for its laminated dough, the bakery’s signature pastries include croissants, dutch pretzels, danishes, fruit tarts and “crookies” — a combination of a cookie and a croissant. All food, even the mayonnaise for the sandwiches, is made by hand from scratch, Tennant says.
“I think people really enjoy that, really appreciate when they see the passion that’s put into all the food and it’s actually done by hand,” Tennant said. “There is a craftsmanship and an artisan-ness to what we do that portrays not only how it looks, but also how it tastes.”
Filling a space that previously belonged to a Starbucks, Roggenart will be open at RTC West on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and weekends from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
It will join the recently opened Z Burger, Tiki Thai, Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant, Kook Dogg Cafe and Nando’s Peri-Peri as a dining option in the retail and office center.
