Warminster Couple Returns To Their Tasty Roots

It may not be quite as busy a life these days for Donna and Paul Eisemann. But it's no less tasty.

The couple, who opened their first bakery, The Homestead in Warminster, in 1987 and expanded with two more in Philly before selling them all in the late 1990s, has returned to the town they call home.

King of Tarts Bakery opened in December at the historic crossroads of Bristol and Old York Roads in Hartsville, as the Eisemanns and their three grown children decided to revive the art of the authentic European baker.

"What took me out of it was I had three small children and I wanted them to have a normal childhood. The bakery business is so busy," said Donna. "My kids are all grown now and they help here."

"When we got out of it, we felt like we died, but I don't regret it," she added.
Donna said that once they chose their rebirth location, a former barn that dates back to the 1700s, it took a year to create a state-of-the-art bakery that maintains its historic feel.

"The back was just a concrete floor," she said. "We had to redo everything."

Paul started baking when he was 16. He served a four-year apprenticeship under a 70-year-old master baker who had emigrated from Germany. He went on to work at bakeries throughout the Philadelphia area, picking up bakers' secrets and now-mostly-forgotten recipes along the way.

"He is a phenomenal baker," Donna said. "They don't come like that anymore."

King of Tarts, with its obvious reference to Alice in Wonderland, indeed has tasty tarts to sample. But that is only one sweet treat among many that also include donuts with homemade cream, cinnamon buns, cookies, cheesecakes, butter cakes and red velvet cakes.

"We have the best cream donut you'll ever taste," she said with pride. "But we wanted to make sure we did everything and have an old-time bakery like the ones we grew up with."

The Eismanns' return to the bakery business after 13 years is a stroke of luck for area customers.