Big Things Are Happening at Stephanie Cmar’s Party of Two

Stephanie Cmar and Justin Burke-Samson of Party of Two. Photo by Doug Levy

Party of Two’s Stephanie Cmar and Justin Burke-Samson just returned from a successful 10-city tour, which included stops in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, and Brooklyn. Now the duo is planning the next phase of their collaborative business, which will incorporate a more extensive breakfast menu, catering, and a food truck or brick and mortar with late night service.

The first phase of their expansion will include catering service featuring everyone’s favorite doughnuts and tarts, as well as some new savory breakfast sandwiches. But Cmar and Burke-Samson want to be more than a purveyor of sweets, and are looking for some public feedback. Beginning next week, they’ll be blasting out a survey through social media, asking for some advice for their new, more expansive brunch menu.

“We’re going to let the people tell us what they want on our menu,” Burke-Samson says. “We consider our customers our stakeholders, so we’re going to let them decide. We know we don’t want to just be a bakery or a café, we want to be something more. We joke that we won’t be playing jazz music at our restaurant, or whatever you want to call it. We’re going to play ’90s hip hop. It’s definitely going to represent Stephanie and I. We like the social aspect of that and we want our friends, which is our supporters, to come hang out with us. So, we thought, let’s not just guess at what they want, let’s just start that conversation at the beginning. What do you want? You’re our biggest investor! We’re going to test it out and if they don’t like it, well, awesome, we’ll try something else.”

Besides incorporating even more flavors in their dessert section, Party of Two is considering items like fried chicken, “elevated junk food,” and breakfast burritos. From the survey:

What additional food or beverage items would like to see Party of Two provide in addition to donuts & poptarts? (Check all that apply) *

• Coffee
• Cocktails
• Beer & Wine
• Breakfast Sandwiches
• Other breakfast pastries
• Cookies
• Ice Cream
• Breakfast Burritos
• Fried Chicken
• Elevated “junk food”
• Sandwiches & Salads
• Just donuts & poptarts

For the next six months, Party of Two will limit their number of pop-ups—formerly on a bi-weekly basis—and focus instead on larger events that will showcase full breakfast menus chosen by their fans. The first of these revamped pop-ups will take place at State Park on Friday, August 1 between 2-5p.m. After that, they’ll execute two more events, in order to narrow down their final menu, which will debut at their brick and mortar (or food truck) in early spring of 2015.

“Everything we’ve done to this point has been very fast. Grab a doughnut from over the counter and go. But with these new ones we’re going to start building on what we’ve done. We’re still focusing on pastries and desserts, which is our sweet spot right now, but working on the savory side of breakfast as well. It’ll be more of an experience, like hanging out together and having a good time.”

August 1, 2-5p.m., One Kendall Square, Building 300, Cambridge; 617-848-4355. To learn more about catering options contact TrademarkTarts@gmail.com.