Dixie Lee Bakery In Keansburg Will Close This Sunday

KEANSBURG, NJ — The last day of business for Dixie Lee Bakery in Keansburg will be this Sunday, June 28.

Owner David Burke revealed this to Patch in an exclusive interview Tuesday. Burke is a well-known chef who owns several restaurants in this area. He took over ownership of Dixie Lee Bakery four years ago.

"Unfortunately the expenses just outweighed the sales," he said Tuesday. "We tried like hell for four years to make it work. The labor force is difficult; the costs are high. A bakery is a tough business."

Dixie Lee closed the retail section of its bakery a few weeks ago, meaning the countertop where people could walk up and buy a cookie, doughnut, cake to go or cup of coffee.

And the big news today is the bakery will be closing entirely this Sunday.

Burke grew up in Hazlet and said he shares the same fond memories of Dixie Lee that thousands of people in this area do. He went on to become something of a celebrity chef, and he still owns Red Horse by David Burke in Rumson, and Orchard Park in East Brunswick, as well as other restaurants in New Jersey. He owned The GOAT, a modern Italian restaurant on Rt. 36 in Union Beach, which closed in the summer of 2025.

Burke revealed that it was the owner of Dixie Lee who personally called him four years ago and asked if he wanted to take over the business.

"When I bought it, it was going out of business," he said. "It was open three and a half days a week and I made it open six days a week. If I didn't buy it, it would have been out of business four years ago."

Burke leased the building. He said he has no idea what the building owner will do, whether the building will be sold or whether someone will take over the storefront lease. He said someone is even welcome to try to keep the bakery open.

"I really don't know. It's a great piece of real estate in a wonderful town. I own the name Dixie Lee Bakery and if someone wants to keep it open, I will sell it to them," he said. "If someone else can come in there and make it, God bless them. I tried to keep it open."

Burke attributed Dixie Lee's lack of success to several things:

"Bakeries are a dying breed. There are a lot of people not eating sweets today; everyone's on Ozempic," he chuckled. "Could we have done a few things better? Maybe. We took a legendary bakery that went downhill for a long time throughout the years, and I took a chance and opened it. I have great desserts in my restaurants. I thought, 'This can't be that different than a restaurant.' But it was. A bakery is a tough business. How many bakeries do you see opening?"

"The labor force is different," he continued. "Prices are higher. And Rt. 36, I love it; I grew up on it, but it's a tough highway for traffic. Add on to that a lot of grocery stores and markets around here, such as Dearborn, have very good bakery sections. If you're living in Holmdel are you going to drive into Keansburg for a black and white cookie? I don't think so."

Burke also responded to the online chatter from customers that he changed the recipes of some of baked goods from the way they were traditionally made.

"Why should some consumer be telling me what I can and can't do? It was never changed. In fact, they were better because they were fresher," he said. "Everything was handmade using wholesome ingredients."

"Then they shouldn't have came .... I'm sorry, but if they are upset they can buy it and run it ... I don't owe the public an apology."

Burke said his corporate clients who bought his cakes and pies wholesale from Dixie Lee have been very sympathetic.

"The catering halls and banquet halls that would buy our cakes, pies and key lime pie, they are upset. They are telling us we know you tried, good luck. They are telling us we loved your product. And they are the ones that have to go out and find another bakery that may not be as good as ours."

David Burke's THE GOAT In Union Beach Permanently Closed (August 2025)