Meet Lance Velasquez of Biscuit & Counter

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lance Velasquez. He and his team share their story with us below:

In March 2020, Chef Lance Velasquez found himself with time off at home due to the Covid lockdown and turned his attention to his love for biscuit making. What began as baking boxes of biscuits for friends and family in the Bay Area grew into a dream to open a biscuit shop in Palm Springs once Lance and Marlo moved south as newly minted empty nesters.

Fast forward one year since arriving in the desert, and Biscuit & Counter has been popping up in various locations throughout the Coachella Valley serving biscuit breakfast sandwiches, baking biscuit boxes for retail and wholesale customers, and catering events big and small. Next up is to sign a long-term lease for a permanent home in Palm Springs.

Biscuit & Counter has also focused on community-building endeavors, supporting such organizations as the Palm Springs Animal Shelter, the LGBTQ Community Center, and the Family YMCA of the Desert.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Moving to Palm Springs to start a business in the middle of a pandemic has not been easy! But since we weren’t ready to open a brick and mortar of our own right away, we’ve used COVID restrictions as a motivator to be scrappy and pursue opportunities like pop-ups, home biscuit deliveries to vacation rentals, and wholesale baking for cafes, restaurants and hotels.

Now that we are ready to open a biscuit shop of our own, we have found it to be challenging to find the right-sized available commercial space as well as contractors and trades people to help work on a restaurant project. Everyone seems to be busy in the desert and there are delays in getting access to commercial kitchen equipment and supplies.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Lance: I have been a chef for over 30 years and have recently immersed myself in the craft of biscuit baking. I have spent time baking with some of the great biscuit masters in the southeast, and there is nothing I love to hear more than people saying that my biscuits remind them of their grandmothers’ biscuits. We put a lot of care into making our biscuits and are having fun developing new recipes with seasonal ingredients. We are also hoping to mentor new bakers eager to learn the craft as we grow and scale up — you can never bake enough biscuits!

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Coming from the Bay Area, we absolutely love the small-town vibe in Palm Springs and are very grateful for the warm welcome we have received from fellow small business owners in town. What do we like the least? Sometimes it is just too damn hot to be baking biscuits in the summer!

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.biscuitandcounter.com
• Instagram: @biscuitandcounter