How 7AM Built on Coffee, Croissants, and the Locals Who Keep Coming Back

Bali doesn't lack bakeries. It has, by some unofficial count, some pastry connoisseur, more croissants per square kilometre than any island in Southeast Asia. What it doesn't have many of is bakeries that grow. 7AM Bakers Club opened in Umalas in 2022, expanded to Pererenan in November 2024, opened in Ubud in 2025, and is now planning Sanur and Uluwatu within the next twelve months. The dinner-hour concept layered on top of it, 7PM, is already running at two of the three Bali outlets.

I met Dee, one of three partners behind the brand, at the Pererenan branch on a Wednesday morning. I ordered the hot latte, which is my usual coffee order. "Pure Melbourne coffee snob, born and bred," he introduced himself.

A Bakery Named After Its Hours

The concept is in the name. 7AM Bakers Club opens at 7 in the morning, daily, at Jl. Bumbak Dauh No.88 in Umalas: a Kerobokan side street. By the time the rest of Umalas is rubbing its eyes,

"7AM was born about four years ago in Umalas," Dee says. "We expanded to Pererenan in November 2024. And Ubud in 2025."

The model travels intact: a French-loft aesthetic, two floors, an order-at-the-bar system, a showcase that doubles as the welcome desk. Aesthetically, the brand is half-French, half-Australian. Operationally, it is Bali.

Three People, Three Disciplines

7AM (and 7PM) runs on a three-way partnership, and each partner owns a different lane.

Widodo is the operator. Dee calls him "the pioneer of hospitality in Bali. Everything he touches turns to gold." He is the vision and the institutional knowledge, the partner who understands what it takes to keep a Bali business running, not just open one.

Chef Maxim is the kitchen. The French baker is responsible for what sits in the showcase and what makes it onto every new menu. "Everything in the showcase is pretty much created by him and mastered by him," Dee says. Maxim travels regularly between Jakarta, France, and other parts of Asia, returning with new techniques and concepts.

Dee is the third lane: the coffee-and-culture lens, imported from Melbourne. He arrived in Bali permanently nearly three years ago, from a finance and sports-club background. Not hospitality. "Bali changed me," he says. His role is the fresh-approach role, the one that mixes a bit of Europe, a bit of Australia, and a bit of Southeast Asia into the brand.

The result is a bakery where the bread is French, the operations are Bali, and the coffee, in his words, is what a Melbourne snob would tolerate before 9am.

Croissants Are Everywhere Now. The Showcase Knows This.

When 7AM opened in 2022, the croissant was not yet a Bali commodity. It is now. "Even warungs are selling croissants at the moment," Dee says.

But the real product is the coffee. Dee's reading of the island is that a million-tourists-a-month market runs on a clear pattern: people taste their way around on espresso.

"When I first came, I would go to as many places as I could and have a coffee. The ones with good coffee, I would return, have another one, and eat something. And then you kind of stick there."

This is why 7AM treats the coffee less as an accompaniment and more as the front door.

Built for Regulars, Not Reels

A lot of Bali bakeries, especially in and around Canggu area, read as travel content. 7AM doesn't. On any given weekday at Pererenan, there are more laptops than camera phones, and more expat regulars than tourists.

"The Pererenan branch is predominantly made up of expats," Dee says.

"We've created a really nice community here. We know a lot of the customers' names. The staff know what they're going to eat. They're comfortable here. The temperature inside is going to be nice. The vibe outside is going to be nice. The coffee is always going to be the same."

The place runs on memory, and orders rarely need to be repeated. The room is built to absorb a long stay: come in for a coffee, end up with a second, open your laptop, close it, get the sandwich, leave, or stay three hours.

When 7 PM Hits, the Coffee Becomes a Cocktail

The second half of the name is the newer half. 7PM is the dinner-hour concept layered on top of 7AM at Pererenan and Ubud. Same room, different evening.

"Same 7AM experience after 7," Dee says. "New menu. Different menu. Still very good coffee. But you can substitute your coffee for a cocktail. Good steak. Good food. Some jazz. Some live music. A chill vibe, that Pererenan really is about. Without losing the 7AM feel."

Umalas has not taken on the dinner concept yet. Pererenan and Ubud have. Both run a full evening service: entrees and steaks, cocktails on the same menu page that ran flat whites at breakfast, a live-music line-up that stays on the soft side of jazz.

The thesis is straightforward: Bali doesn't have enough all-day venues. Most cafes close before sunset.

Sanur and Uluwatu Are Next

Three Bali outlets are now in motion: Umalas, Pererenan at Jl. Pantai Pererenan No.164, and Ubud at Jl. Raya Pengosekan No.2013B. (For the record, there are also branches inside Grand Indonesia and Senayan City in Jakarta, and Margo City in Depok, but Bali is the thesis.)

Asked where it goes next, Dee doesn't hesitate.

"Sanur and Uluwatu. Within 12 months."

The format will be the same on both coasts: 7AM at the front, 7PM at the back, and a community of regulars who eventually stop reading the menu.

"Coffee is good," he says, tapping his cup as he gets up. "Try the coffee."