New SLO bakery serves up coffee, pastries and sandwiches in old Fromagerie Sophie spot
A new downtown San Luis Obispo bakery is serving up fresh pastries and more.
SLO Delicious Bake Shop opened its doors at 1129 Garden St. on June 30 after nine months of planning and tenant improvements. The business features a menu of fresh-baked pastries, as well as handmade chocolate truffles, sandwiches, salads and coffee.
Owner Mike Martineau said he left a corporate job and sold his home in Ventura to open the business with Gonzalo Huerta, the business’ pastry chef and bakery manager.
SLO Delicious Bake Shop operates in a 700-square-foot space previously occupied by Fromagerie Sophie, a cheese shop that closed in 2019 after five years downtown.
“I was tired of all the meetings and travel from my corporate job,” said Martineau, who left behind a career focusing on hospitality, marketing and project management. “I’d always come through downtown SLO and looked forward to Fromagerie Sophie cheese. When it was closed, my best friend Gonzalo and I discussed the idea of a bakery, but I didn’t know a lot about baking.
“He has a lot of experience. We realized it was a good idea, though, and decided to do it.”
Martineau said he loved coming to San Luis Obispo County for wine tasting, beaches and more, and the business idea inspired him to relocate.
Martineau said he used virtually all of the proceeds from his home sale to start the new venture with Huerta.
Huerta worked as an assistant manager at a retail French bakery for 12 years and last held a management position at Whole Foods in Santa Barbara.
Calling itself a “boutique” bakeshop, SLO Delicious Bake Shop features breakfast and lunch fare as well as sweet treats. Menu offerings include frittatas, croissant sandwiches and birthday and wedding cakes with vegan and gluten-free options.
“A lot of people have said, ‘This is crazy to start a first business, in a new community, in a pandemic,’” Martineau said. “I didn’t get much sleep over the past nine months as we waited for permits to come through and the remodeling, but all of our business neighbors here have been very supportive and we absolutely love this space on Garden Street, which is a cafe corridor.”
In 2017, the city of San Luis Obispo switched the block of Garden Street between Marsh and Higuera streets from two-way traffic flow to create one-way travel with more diagonal parking and larger sidewalks for businesses lining the street.
Linnaea’s Cafe and Scout Coffee Co. are located on the same block as SLO Delicious Bake Shop.
SLO Delicious Bake Shop is open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Monday, and is closed on Tuesdays.
For more information, call 805-752-1041, email hello@slo-delicious.com or visit slo-delicious.com.
Correction: This story has been changed to reflect the correct menu offerings.
This story was originally published July 30, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
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