Delco Profile: Robert Smythe of Pastry Pants Brings Euro-Style Bakery to Swarthmore

Pastry Pants, a from-scratch bakery in downtown Swarthmore, opened the doors to its charming brick-and-mortar shop in May of 2024. Its founder and owner, longtime Swarthmore resident Robert Smythe, only arrived at this milestone after a career odyssey that led him through the theater, advertising, and his own garage.

Some Delco locals may know Smythe from his decades-long career in the arts, including his work in puppetry at Philadelphia’s Mum Puppettheatre (which he founded) and treading the boards at local theaters. After 25 years, Smythe made a big change: He went to graduate school and then began teaching at Temple University. Then, he entered a second act in 2010 and founded a voiceover company, which led to a creative director job in corporate marketing. Later, he returned to the theater world as part of the resident company at Hedgerow Theatre Company. The pandemic paused operations at the theater, which brought Smythe to his triumphant third act: the culinary world.

Smythe was a passionate home cook and baker, but not professionally trained — though he did run a sourdough bread-baking business as a side hustle during grad school. However, he did have friends in the restaurant industry, including one of the co-owners of Village Vine (among our favorite wine bars in Delco), which had opened right at the beginning of Covid and needed some help. 

“Long story short, the chef at the time, Krupa Patel, brought me in as a pastry chef,” Smythe remembers. “One of the most important things that happened to me there was that she said to me, ‘Robert, you don’t know how good you are.’ When someone of that caliber says that to you, it means a lot.” 

Encouraged by Patel’s mentorship and collaborative leadership style, Smythe committed to the chef life. He left Village Vine to run the bakery in the dining hall at Swarthmore College. In February of 2023, Smythe decided to strike out on his own. Thus, the idea of Pastry Pants was born.

Smythe knew that, first and foremost, he wanted to create a bakery that was a true community space, modeled after the boulangeries and backstube he religiously visited when traveling in Europe. 

“Nobody needs a bakery to survive, but bakeries help people celebrate the milestones of their lives—that’s what they do,” Smythe says. 

Even though his business concept and plan were in place, there were no available storefronts at the time in Swarthmore that fit his needs. He wanted somewhere right in the village, with the infrastructure for a bakery, and the right vibe to fit his vision. 

So, Smythe did what any good actor would do: He improvised. 

After learning about Pennsylvania’s cottage food laws, Smythe had the inspired idea to open a mini-bakery in his detached garage, which he’d previously renovated to include electricity, air conditioning and running water (it was his woodshop). After having to convince the state and the county that his idea was, in fact, permitted by law, he was able to open a fully licensed commercial bakery in the small structure behind his home.

Word spread across the area of this new little bakery’s arrival, and when Pastry Pants opened its doors over Labor Day weekend in 2023, there was a line snaking through Smythe’s yard and down his driveway. The crowds kept showing up, and before long, Smythe had to hire a small staff to support the business.  

“The people in line often waited a long time, and no one complained!” Smythe says. “People were hanging out, having conversations with each other, and when they got to the front of the line, they thanked us for being there.”

Neighbors and visitors came back again and again for Pastry Pants’ perfect French croissants, crave-worthy brown butter chocolate chip cookies, and gleefully decadent cinnamon rolls.  

Just a few months later, Smythe got word that a stalwart Swarthmore restaurant, Occasionally Yours, was up for sale. He knew at once this was his chance for the storefront in the borough, and submitted his business plan and an impassioned letter to the restaurant’s owners, Scott and Theresa Richardson. Ultimately, the couple chose him out of seven other applicants. 

Everything moved swiftly once the papers were signed, and after just a few months, Pastry Pants opened in its new home at 10 Park Avenue on May 19, 2024. Its expanded bread operation is now headed up by local baker Jerome Sheehan, while Smythe keeps things exciting on the pastry side. The fans have flocked, even more diligently than before, to the shop, patiently waiting in lines for their chance at the bakery’s beloved scones, impeccable key lime pie bars, crusty baguettes, berry cobblers and German brotchen (breakfast rolls served slathered with butter and jam).

This summer, business has mellowed a bit, Smythe reports, but says it’s given him and his team a chance to catch up after all that’s happened in the past few months. He’s still taken a bit by surprise by the runaway success of Pastry Pants. The best part of the journey has been the simple moments of generosity and care he’s seen the bakery bring to his customers’ everyday lives.

“My absolute favorite thing is when people buy something for themselves and then also get things for their friends, or their neighbor who’s having a rough time and deserves to celebrate something special,” Smythe says.

It seems like, after a career that’s zigged and zagged across the years, Smythe has found his newest starring role.

“Recently, I was walking down the street and heard a parent say to their child, ‘There’s the bakerman!’” he laughs. “I guess that’s what I am now in my community.” 

For more information on Pastry Pants, visit its website and follow along on Instagram and Facebook.

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— Emily Kovach 

All photos courtesy of Pastry Pants