Hannah Olsen
Aycho Melange & Batches Bakehouse, Owner

Hannah Olsen only made brownies from a box and maybe the occasional drop cookies, but she wanted to challenge herself as a baker. She soon fell in love with creating delicate French macarons.

Seeing a demand for these cookies, Olsen officially registered Aycho Melange as a business in 2019. Today, the specialty bakery focuses on classic and customized French macarons for weddings, events, wholesale and corporate, plus offers classes.

“I pride myself on unlikely and surprising flavors that you don’t typically see in this classic French confection; think blueberry French toast, toasted almond torte and chocolate chip cookie dough,” Olsen says. “We offer some of the most extensive customization options in the area, ranging from hand-painted decorations to color-matching for weddings and events, to printing company logos and photographs on our goods via an edible printer.”

When she first started out, Olsen was working full time in marketing and business development. A friend loaned her a space within his restaurant’s kitchen to make Aycho Melange’s creations.

By the end of 2022, Olsen’s business had outgrown the space; she began searching for a shared-production kitchen. After failing to find the right, budget-friendly match for what she needed, Nelson decided to open her own shared-license kitchen that was accessible, affordable and flexible for herself and for others starting out in the food industry. “I have always loved helping people and having seen so much of Pittsburgh’s talented small food business scene for myself, knew that these businesses could do great things if only they had a legitimate space to start in,” she says.

Last June, after a year of searching for the perfect location, she opened Batches Bakehouse in Pittsburgh’s Arlington neighborhood. Today, Batches Bakehouse hosts 10 businesses — ranging from purveyors of proper English Scones to cake pucks, to a mobile liquid catering cart — that are licensed to use the space. “It is not a storefront, but rather a production space that also serves as a venue for the businesses to host order pick-ups, classes, events and customer meetings,” Olsen says.

Continuing to fuel her entrepreneurial streak, Olsen has partnered with peer-turned-friend Ali Catto on a new community coffee shop and bakery in the Sunset Hills neighborhood of Mt. Lebanon. The Baked Bean is expected to open later this summer.