Ledyard — The eastern Connecticut coffee shop and bakery chain The Baker's Dozen has opened its seventh and southernmost location, setting up in the Bestway on Route 12 in Gales Ferry.

"I've come to find out what the hype is all about," a police officer said as he wandered in Monday morning, its first day open. A young girl later inquired, "Can we get one of the smoothies?!" and placed her hands on her face in excitement. (The options were strawberry, orange creamsicle and cotton candy.)

The shop has a setup like that of a national chain and includes a drive-thru. On Monday, muffin flavors included pistachio, corn, cranberry orange, lemon poppy and triple chocolate. Along with doughnuts and bagels, The Baker's Dozen had apple turnovers, cheese Danishes, honey buns, apple fritters and cinnamon sticks.

Beverage prices for a small are $1.89 for hot coffee, $2.39 for iced coffee, $2.59 for a Del's frozen lemonade, $2.99 for a frozen coffee cooler and $3.69 for a frozen hot chocolate. Doughnuts are $1.25 each or $9.99 for a dozen.

The array of coffee flavors is dizzying, with 39 sweetened and unsweetened options, such as hazelnut truffle, pumpkin spice, banana split, mocha mint, gingerbread, s'mores, Almond Joy and Irish crème.

Manager Kayla Thomas said the turkey, cheddar and bacon flatbread is one of the most popular options, and the shop also serves breakfast sandwiches.

Trevor Cardinal owns the business with his father, Ken Cardinal, who opened the first Baker's Dozen in 1980.

The younger Cardinal, who lives in the Quiet Corner in Brooklyn, said the decision to open the new location, which is still hiring, came after the owner of that Bestway reached out. He noted that the there was nothing in that part of the Bestway store before, but that it was designed for a business like The Baker's Dozen to come in.

"We really like going into smaller towns and communities that are little bit tight-knit," Cardinal said.

This joins locations in Brooklyn, Putnam, Pomfret, Plainfield, Central Village and Norwich. Some are standalone stores while others are in gas stations, but the offerings are the same.

"We play off the gas station, and the gas station I like to think does the same with us," Cardinal said.

The concept has picked up the pace of growth the last few years: the last three stores opened in November 2018, October 2017 and May 2017, respectively in Putnam, Central Village and Norwich.

"I got to see my father grow it firsthand, as a kid," said Cardinal, 38, "which created obviously my wanting to get into it."

He said people like The Baker's Dozen for its customer service and local, hometown feel, that it's not a big-box store.

Thomas said it's nice to see that people follow The Baker's Dozen when new locations pop up, that they're not just stopping at the one in their hometown for the sake of convenience.

e.moser@theday.com