From Sunrise to Aurora, bakery looks to break a new dawn with rebrand

Just over a month after re-opening Sunrise Bakery, owner Richard Freeman says he is considering changing the Dartmouth location’s name to Aurora Bakehouse and Cafe.

Freeman said his decision to rebrand comes after a month of negative feedback he hadn’t expected to receive, with complaints ranging from a price difference between the bakery’s food and nearby Dunkin’, the freshness of the bread and how the furniture is different than before.

According to Freeman, with the exception of the sweet bread he bakes all of the white breads every day and explained that the sweet bread is baked either every other day or two to three times a week.

“It’s a small group of people, but the lies and the loudness is what’s getting to me,” he said.

Changing the name to Aurora Bakehouse and Cafe would be part of Freeman’s effort to rebrand the bakery and make it his own with a new identity, which he said could give him the fair judgment he’s looking for.

“I feel like I’m still living off the previous owners’ back with this location because I’m still riding with their old complaints that shouldn’t be mine as well,” Freeman said.

Freeman said he’s felt conflicted about changing the bakery’s name because he views it as an “iconic location” and wants to respect the previous owners, especially after the several months they helped him get settled into the New Bedford location.

“It’s bittersweet because it will be a new era, but also I feel like it’s stripping the previous owners’ hard work,” he said.

But he said that the rebranding is simply something he has to do for his benefit.

“It’s bringing the same thing in a different light, so it’s basically a new dawn. It’s a new ownership — it’s a new setup,” Freeman said.

Freeman is currently thinking of changing the location’s name — as well as introducing a new logo — in about a month when he opens the drive thru and said he doesn’t think reception from the community will be good in the beginning.

“I think the old crowd won’t be happy about it, but I can build my own new customer base, and that is what I’m trying to achieve,” Freeman said.

He added he thinks Aurora Bakehouse and Cafe will find a niche of its own once he reaches the perfection he’s trying to achieve.

“I need it to be known that it’s not the same owners, so you can’t come in here expecting the same thing, and I need time to make it better,” he said.

According to Freeman, Aurora means “new dawn,” so while he may be changing the bakery’s name, he said he is still trying to honor the previous owners and sees this as the “perfect way” to keep their influence around.

Freeman also wouldn’t be scrapping the name Sunrise Bakery entirely.

The New Bedford location, which is where most of the bread is baked, will still be called Sunrise Bakery, but its logo will be updated.

Freeman is also looking into opening a new location in Braintree, which he said he would call Sunrise if he installs ovens and bakes bread there or Aurora if he opens it as a cafe.

“They will all be under the same entity,” he said. “It’s just different ideologies or ideas.”