SUCCESS STORIES

Freshly Baked: How Papa d’Amour Rose Through NYC Search

Papa d'Amour is the newest concept from Dominique Ansel, the James Beard Award-winning pastry chef behind the Cronut®. Its name means "Papa, my love" in French, which is what his two young children call him, and the menu celebrates their Taiwanese and French heritage. Think croissant shokupan, mochi donuts and savory pastries like the Scallion Basil Blossom, baked fresh at 64 University Place between Greenwich Village and Union Square.

broken_image

78%

increase in page 1 & SERP visibility

broken_image

19 -> 7

position change for "french bakery nyc"

broken_image

38%

increase in brand mentions in LLMs

ads_click

The Need

Papa d'Amour approached StudioHawk to grow their search visibility beyond the Dominique Ansel name.

Their key objectives included:

Growing organic traffic, which lagged behind most of their local competitors.
Getting their signature products found in search, not just the brand.
Building out a keyword footprint that was still small for a new bakery.
Owning category searches like "Japanese bakery NYC" and Asian-French pastries.
Bringing more people into the bakery and to their online pre-orders.

This required in-depth keyword mapping and competitor analysis, technical SEO fixes and a steady run of product-led content, all built around what makes the menu different.

map

The Plan

StudioHawk built a roadmap around one goal, making Papa d'Amour's menu as easy to find as the Dominique Ansel name:

Map keywords and competitors to find where Papa d'Amour could win beyond branded searches
Fix the technical basics that search engines and AI tools rely on to understand a site
Give signature products and new topics their own pages, built to bring people into the bakery or to online pre-orders
Strengthen internal linking, trust and local signals across the site

bolt

The Execution

Over the first 4 months, StudioHawk put the plan into action:
- Research and foundations - mapped keywords across the site, analyzed competitors, audited technical SEO and GA4 tracking and rewrote poorly optimized meta titles
- Product highlight pages - built dedicated pages for the Butter Vanilla Soft Serve, Taro Lace Batter Mochi Donut, Kurobuta Hot Dog Spiral, Scallion Basil Blossom and Salt Bread Bagel, each telling the product's story and pointing people to the bakery or online pre-orders
- New ways to be found - launched a Guide to Shokupan, a hub for seasonal and limited-time items optimized for holiday searches and an on-site catering page to bring catering inquiries to Papa d'Amour directly instead of a third-party platform
- Internal linking - added breadcrumbs across the site, product recommendations on product pages, an in-store product reel on the homepage and an interactive menu that links through to product pages
- Trust and local signals - added a homepage section for customer and press reviews and improved their Google Business Profile for nearby searches

chart_data

The Results

The results achieved in just 4 months show how quickly a focused SEO strategy can help a new local bakery get found. Dedicated pages for signature items like the Taro Lace Batter Mochi Donut, Kurobuta Hot Dog Spiral and Butter Vanilla Soft Serve helped give the menu its own presence in search, each one pointing people to the bakery or to online pre-orders. A Guide to Shokupan, an on-site catering page and an improved Google Business Profile added more ways to be found. Product recommendations, breadcrumbs and an interactive menu helped both visitors and search engines move through the site.

78% increase in page 1 & SERP feature visibility
"french bakery nyc" up from position 19 to position 7, moving onto page 1
38% increase in brand mentions in LLMs

95%

Increase in revenue

See how we helped phone case specialists Case-Mate kick start their new bag range, dominate SERPs for new phone cases and drive traffic and revenue.

Freshly Baked: How Papa d’Amour Rose Through NYC Search

Helping Australia’s Best Brands Level Up With SEO

Ready to grow faster with SEO?

Award-Winning SEO Agency