Zingerman's Bakehouse
A custom class registration & e-commerce platform built on Drupal Commerce
Client Overview
Zingerman’s Bakehouse bakes the bread and pastries for the legendary Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Bakehouse also runs a popular hands-on baking school, offering public classes throughout the year. The Bakehouse needed a robust online platform to power its class registration system—one that would provide a seamless experience for customers while supporting the unique operational needs of its staff.
The Challenge
The Bakehouse’s existing class registration system was a custom-built PHP site without framework or CMS. While it allowed customers to register and pay for classes, it lacked key functionality—most notably:
- No way to apply Zingerman’s gift cards or class credit
- No support for customer self-service cancellations
- No support for staff overrides of pricing or session limits to handle exceptional cases
As a result, staff had to manually take some orders over the phone, handle cancellations and refunds, and assist customers with tasks that should have been automated. As the Bakehouse scaled up its classes and customer base, the need for a modern, maintainable solution became clear.
The Solution
Zengenuity was contracted to build a fully custom class registration platform on Drupal Commerce, tailored specifically to the Bakehouse’s workflow and customer experience goals.
Key Features
- Gift Card Integration: Customers can use Zingerman’s physical or digital gift cards to pay for classes online, thanks to a custom integration with the Bakehouse’s third-party gift card processor.
- Self-Service Cancellations: Customers can cancel registrations directly through the site. The system enforces business rules based on class timing and payment method—automatically processing refunds, issuing class credit, or applying specific cancellation policies.
- Class Credit System: When eligible, customers receive class credit that can be used on future registrations, which can be applied during checkout without staff intervention.
- Waitlists & Capacity Management: The platform tracks available seats per session, prevents overbooking, and allows customers to join waitlists when classes are full—all built with custom logic.
- Add-On Products During Registration: Classes can include optional add-ons like books or tools, all configurable by staff. Customers can choose to purchase these extras during registration. The system handles sales tax for these physical products, which is applied differently in Michigan to class registrations.
Backend Tools & Reporting
In addition to customer-facing improvements, we built a suite of custom admin tools to support the Bakehouse team including:
- Downloadable registration rosters
- Revenue reporting by class, date, or session
- Tools for tracking class credit, cancellations, and gift card usage
- Image
The Results
The new Drupal Commerce platform delivers a vastly improved experience for both customers and staff:
- Customers can register, cancel, and apply gift cards or credits without picking up the phone.
- Staff spend less time on manual support, thanks to automation of refunds and reporting.
- The Bakehouse team now has a flexible, maintainable platform they can continue to grow.
Deliverables & Features
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