Popular Main Line bakery The Buttery is officially opening its doors in Bryn Mawr this weekend, marking the third location in a growing collection of cafésowned by husband-and-wife duo John and Silenia Rhoads.
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Known for its sourdough breads, homemade pastries, and seasonal dishes, The Buttery describes itself as “part village bakery, part coffee shop, and part scratch kitchen.”
The Rhoadses opened the first Buttery location in Malvern in 2015 and have since expanded into the Ardmore Farmers Market and now Bryn Mawr, at 836 W. Lancaster Ave. The Buttery previously had a satellite location at the Malvern train station, which closed in December.
The bakery is beloved by Main Line residents and visitors (and even received the praises of Martha Stewart this spring).
Joli Ridenour, The Buttery’s community manager, said customers have been asking the bakery to expand for years. When they opened in Ardmore in October, patrons were over the moon about not needing to drive to Malvern to get their beloved kouign-amann and sourdough.
John Rhoads grew up in Devon, and he, Silenia, and their three teenagers now live in Paoli, so finding another outpost on the Main Line just felt right.
Bryn Mawr felt like “a good center point on the Main Line,” John Rhoads said.
“We’re so excited to be in this town. There’s such a hustle and bustle,” Silenia Rhoads said, adding that she’s already seen a “sense of community.”
At the bakery’s soft opening on Wednesday, loaves of sourdough and baguettes peeked out from behind long glass cases stuff with butter croissants, lemon currant scones, and fresh bagels. Packaged cookies, branded T-shirts, and bags of homemade granola lined the walls, and customers stopped to chat with the Rhoadses.
The 82-seat café is spacious, laid out with long communal tables, corner booths, and scattered two- and four-tops. The Buttery team wanted multiple kinds of seating options to allow for different dining experiences, from neighbors grabbing a quick coffee to families coming in for a long lunch.
“We want people to feel really at home and welcome and like they’re walking into an old friend’s house,” Ridenour said.
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The Buttery’s Bryn Mawr location is serving its full breakfast and lunch menu, which includes bagels, quiches, sandwiches, open-face tartines, salads, and speciality Passenger coffee and tea drinks. The Rhoadses said they are hoping to expand to dinner service, as they have in Malvern, in the fall or winter.
Ridenour said the bakery always tries to source locally, milling flour out of local grain and purchasing eggs from Highspire Hills Farm in Glenmoore. Almost everything is made in-house, including roasting their own meat for roast beef sandwiches.
What to order? The Buttery’s staff says you can’t go wrong. The sablé cookie, a buttery French shortbread cookie, is a signature dish. Silenia Rhoads recommends the seasonal panzanella salad, made with fresh smashed cucumber, asparagus, homemade croutons, and a potpourri of herbs. The breakfast sandwich, serviced with harissa aioli on an everything brioche bun, is also a fan favorite.
The Buttery has been able to expand in large part due to a bakehouse the Rhoadses opened in Norristown a year ago. With more space and a centralized food preparation location, the bakehouse has “enabled us to set our sights on more,” John Rhoads said.
The couple said a Northern Liberties location will open later this year, and further growth is on the horizon for 2027.
The Buttery’s Bryn Mawr grand opening will kick off on Saturday. The bakery will debut a special Bryn Mawr-only pastry, a lemon poppy kouign amann baked with house-made creamy poppy seed spread and lemon sugar. The first 50 customers will get a branded tote bag and the first 100 will get a sablé cookie, on both Saturday and Sunday.
The Buttery will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., with kitchen service until 3 p.m.
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