"Women today are working so hard. They come home really tired, but still want to give their family and friends what they would do in their own kitchen. That's our niche—we make everything from scratch and bake it just like you would. I tell them to say their friend Karen baked them, and to go get their nails done instead."
— Karen H. Boyd-Rohde, owner of Bredenbeck's Bakery & Ice Cream Parlor, featured in Montgomery County Town & Country Living, Winter 2007/08
About Us
Bredenbeck's Bakery & Ice Cream Parlor has been serving up delicious baked goods, sweet treats and ice cream delicacies to customers in Philadelphia and beyond since 1889.
At Bredenbeck’s, we strive to make the finest cakes, cupcakes, pies, cookies, tortes and more, using only the best all-natural ingredients, with no additives or preservatives.
Our wedding cakes are beautiful and scrumptious. Our butter cookies are world-famous. Our ice cream parlor has become a summer tradition in Chestnut Hill. And our customer service is unmatched.
A Sweet Century
The original Bredenbeck's was opened in Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties neighborhood by Frederick Robert Bredenbeck, an immigrant baker from Bavaria, in 1889.
The bakery was an instant success and eventually expanded to include stories in Mayfair, Germantown and Mt. Airy. In 1954, the Bredenbeck family handed the business over to Walter and Otto Haug, two longtime employees who impressed the Bredenbeck’s with their loyalty and devotion.
A Family Tradition
Thirty years later, in 1983, Walter Haug’s daughter, Karen H. Boyd-Rohde, opened Bredenbeck’s current location in Chestnut Hill. Since then, Rohde has established Bredenbeck’s as one of the most well-known, well-respected bakeries in the Delaware Valley.
A self-taught baker and driven entrepreneur, Rohde has instilled at Bredenbeck’s a deep respect for the time-honored traditions of scratch baking while at the same time expanding the bakery’s reach and customer base. Rohde opened the bakery’s Ice Cream Parlor in 1985, and has in recent years made Bredenbeck’s treats available the Web. Today, Bredenbeck’s treats are shipped from coast to coast.
Despite all of the growth, however, the heart and soul of Bredenbeck’s remains the kitchen, where Bredenbeck’s bakers work seven days a week to create delicious new treats from scratch — just like they have every day since the bakery’s founding back in 1889.
