A new storefront on Lockport Street is turning Youngstown into a classroom for home bakers and curious cooks alike. Three Little Hens Baking Co., owned by chef and teacher Rachel Jolbert, opened its café and commercial kitchen earlier this fall at 120 Lockport St., bringing baking classes, workshops and locally sourced treats to the small Niagara River village.
The Upward Niagara Chamber of Commerce marked the milestone with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, according to Niagara Frontier Publications. Chamber president Amanda Haseley said the event represented local vendors and farmers coming together, calling it a celebration of Jolbert's community-focused business, and she wished Jolbert and the bakery continued success.
Jolbert owns Three Little Hens and also serves as proprietor of the Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market, where Haseley said she found success before branching out on her own. The outlet notes Jolbert offers baking and cooking classes, workshops, small gatherings and special orders at the new space, with ingredients sourced from local farms and small businesses whenever possible.
From Market Stall to Storefront
The Youngstown shop is the next chapter for a baker who has spent years building up the region's farmers market scene. Since Jolbert took the reins of the Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market in 2023, the market has grown in physical size, number of vendors and months of operation, per an earlier report from Niagara Frontier Publications. This year's market lineup was expected to include about 80 vendors, roughly a third of them full-time participants, with eight bakers on hand — the most the market has ever had, Jolbert said at the time.
That growth helped set the stage for her move into a permanent kitchen of her own. The brick-and-mortar plan for 120 Lockport St. was first announced as an expansion of her farmers-market bakery into a teaching space, the same earlier report noted. Jolbert described the café portion as intentionally tiny: a roughly 100-square-foot “micro café” seating about 10 people and open for reservations, a design built around classes and community use rather than walk-in dining.
A Teacher With Nearly Two Decades Behind the Counter
Jolbert's background runs deep in professional pastry work. She has said she worked professionally in pastry for 18 years and taught for 14 of those, including seven years as an adjunct professor in the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute's pastry department, according to the same Niagara Frontier Publications report. That teaching experience shows up directly in the new venture's offerings, which according to a WNY Thrive business listing include team-building activities alongside classes, workshops, special orders and small gatherings.
The listing also points to a packed fall schedule built around seasonal themes, including Halloween cut-out cookies, Pies 101, vegan baking and Cuccidati Italian fig cookies. A pear preserves and water-bath canning class is on the calendar for Tuesday in Youngstown, per the listing.
For Haseley and the chamber, the opening is as much about the village's commercial corridor as it is about pastry. Her remarks tying the ribbon-cutting to local vendors and farmers reflect the same ingredient-sourcing philosophy Jolbert has built her business around, from her years running the Lewiston market to her new kitchen on Lockport Street.
