Flour Box Tea Rooms is now operating out of Short Street Gastro Lab, a commercial shared-use kitchen in Kernersville.
“We are temporarily using Short Street while we look for a future home,” said owner Milla Ranieri.
Ranieri has operated Flour Box in several locations since 2014, most recently at Shaffner House on S. Marshall St., which it left in February 2021.
Since then, Ranieri has baked out of her home while she looks for a new location. Earlier this summer, she withdrew an application to have a residential home rezoned in Washington Park because neighbors opposed the change.
Ranieri said she decided to use Short Street because it has sufficient equipment available to her to do a range of baked goods on a larger scale. She also can work with meats, something not permitted by the N.C. Agriculture Department in home kitchens.
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Ranieri said she is running the business by herself. She is doing all of her baking by pre-orders only, 24 to 48 hours in advance, with pickup from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays.
“I also can accommodate special requests,” she said, for people who want a different pickup time. “And I am always willing to try new things, as long as people give me plenty of time. She mentioned that a new bride recently requested petit fours made in the shape of Tiffany boxes to match her Tiffany ring. “I had never done that before. But I like to get creative,” she said.
Flour Box is perhaps best known for its English tea service, and Ranieri has an “English tea to go” box with three savory items, three sweet items, seasonal scone with clotted cream and preserves, and tea sachet for $25.
Other popular items include a box of six scones ($22), Moravian chicken pie ($30) and vegetable or ham and cheese quiche ($25).
