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La Baguette French Bakery opened in Dover in 2017, and now plans a second location. | DBT PHOTO BY KATIE TABELING[/caption]
DOVER — La Baguette French Bakery, a popular downtown Dover favorite eatery, will be opening its second brick-and-mortar location in the Villages of Five Points near Lewes, complementing a deal with a wholesale client.
The bakery signed a lease last month to move into a new storefront in the master-planned community with a targeted opening in November. La Baguette will be neighbors to Touch of Italy, which used to operate a bakery out of the shopping center on East Chesapeake Street. Terms of the lease were not disclosed.
“It’s a cute story really,” La Baguette co-owner Anita Wheeler-Bezy told the Delaware Business Times. “Touch of Italy has been asking us for a while to move to Sussex, but we’ve always laughed it off since we couldn’t find a kitchen. Then, they said we could have theirs.”
La Baguette opened in downtown Dover in 2017 as an authentic French bakery, with Wheeler-Bezy’s partner and husband Ludovic “Ludo” Bezy, serving as chief chef. The couple met in France, one year after Bezy graduated from culinary school in Saint-Dizier, France, in 1986.
La Baguette makes fresh baked bread loaves on-site, ranging from brioche, sourdough, rye, fromage and more. In addition, the bakery serves up assorted pastries, mouses, quiches, cakes and sandwiches on its signature bread.Â
The business also has a wholesale service for customers like Bally’s Casino Dover, House of Coffi in Dover, Touch of Italy and Tre Sorelle Dolce Ice Cream in Wyoming, Del.
“I really feel like the time is now to move to Sussex County for the wholesale bread market, because we feel like we’re also capable of it with our staff,” Wheeler-Bezy said. “The opportunity is great to introduce a whole new client base to our fresh, French breads baked on site, and later down the road our pastries and quiches.”
Right now, La Baguette has 20 employees and projects hiring at least six employees for the second location.Â
While Bezy and Wheeler-Bezy will have control of the Lewes location come Aug. 1, the couple plan on cosmetic renovations to the site to fit its vision for the brand.Â