SLO County home bakery opening shop in downtown Atascadero. What’s on the menu?

Mercedes and Kyle White used to dream about owning their own bakery.

Today, their Wendy White’s Bakery is a fully operating home bakery — and it’s soon going to have its own brick and mortar in downtown Atascadero.

“We’ve talked about doing this for years and it’s finally coming true,” Mercedes told The Tribune. “It’s very nerve-wracking. We’ve never opened our own business before, so it’s definitely scary, but we’re excited.”

After graduating culinary school in 2016, Mercedes moved to Virginia with Kyle to work in a variety of restaurants and bakeries.

They returned to the Central Coast to be close to Mercedes’ family and chase their dreams of opening a bakery, she said.

Enter Wendy White’s Bakery, which the couple started in February 2024 as a home bakery in their home in Paso Robles. They sell to local restaurants and take in custom orders for birthday cakes and special celebrations.

For those wondering where the name came from, there is a Wendy White — she’s just not working in the kitchen, or to be frank, human.

“Our cat’s name is actually Wendy,” Mercedes said. “We thought it would be cute to name it after her because Wendy White’s Bakery just sounds cool, and we love our cat.”

New bakery set to open in Atascadero

Now the pair’s brick-and-mortar Wendy White’s Bakery is set to replace Central Coast Distillery’s old spot at 5804 Traffic Way.

The space, which is expected to open in mid summer, is designed to be one thing: cozy.

“We want it to be very cozy, with some nice art on the walls, potted plants and knickknacks,” White said. “It’s going to be cozy because it’s pretty small, but we definitely want to have a kind of cozy, homely type of feel.”

In the small space, a glass display fridge will contain take-home cakes and pastries, as well as a seating area inside expanding out to the patio.

“We’re excited to be a part of everybody’s celebrations,” Mercedes said. “Also be a fun place to go here in downtown Atascadero.”

In the meantime, the home bakery continues to make deliveries headed by Kyle, selling custom cakes for birthdays and celebrations as well as brownies, cookies, bars, pies and the bakery’s newest addition, painted macarons.

Mercedes hand-painted flowers in edible paint on top of macarons for a recent popup celebration with The Nest, which she said helped to bring out her artistic side.

“... It’s a fun way to create something that’s kind of artistic but that’s also delicious,” she said. “It’s a fun challenge of how can I make this really yummy but also really pretty?”

The pretty pastries are priced between $65 for a full 8-inch cake to $2.75 for muffins, Mercedes said.

Once the bakery’s shop is fully open, White said she hopes to expand the menu beyond sweet treats into sandwiches and breads.

For more information

The business does not yet have a firm opening date for its new Atascadero shop.

In the meantime, interested customers can order treats via the bakery’s Instagram page or Facebook.