Longtime Bay Area, Napa Valley pastry chef opens newest addition to SLO Creamery
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A new bakery is the latest addition to The Creamery Marketplace on Higuera Street on San Luis Obispo — recently opened by a longtime professional pastry chef who has worked in San Francisco and Napa Valley.
Joliene Bakery opened May 4 in a 1,600-square-foot space at 570 Higuera St., Suite 180, by the husband-and-wife team of Chloe and Thomas Fertel.
The new business, one of several over the past year to open in the newly remodeled Creamery, is the culmination of more than two-and-a-half years of planning and a personal investment of between $200,000 and $300,000 to renovate the space.
The improvements included a complete makeover of the interior, including a new full kitchen, cooking equipment, furniture and lighting fixtures.
“We’re so excited to be finally up and running,” Chloe Fertel said. “It has come with lots of expenses, a lot of planning, and now we’re finally realizing our dream to put down our roots here and get started. ... It has been very trying at times, and it’s a big risk, but it’s a risk we’re willing to take.”
The bakery will offer pastries, bread, sandwiches, cakes, tartlets, coffee, tea and sweets. The price range is roughly between $3 and $8 for products, and the goal is to get customers in and out in less than two minutes.
Popular items so far have been the Housemade English muffin and French Macarons, Chloe Fertel said.
The business is currently open from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through Friday and 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Customers have the option of five indoor and five outdoor seats, as well as communal seating in the Creamery.
“Our sizes are relatively small, and the goal is to make it quick and easy,” Chloe Fertel said.
Right after signing on to the lease last May, which is costing them $6,000 per month, the Fertels found out they were expecting a child in June and had their baby boy in February.
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The SLO residents will juggle raising their young son with the new business; Thomas Fertel is a winemaker with Paso Robles-based Thornhill Wine Company and will continue to hold down his full-time job while also handling the business side of the new bakery.
Chloe Fertel’s background includes a pastry chef position at Silver Oaks Cellars in Napa Valley and a degree from the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley.
“All of these recipes are ones I’ve practiced and refined,” she said. “There’s so much memory and history tied into the menu that reminds me of how far I’ve come. It’s a pretty great feeling.”
This story was originally published May 15, 2019 at 9:05 AM.
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