Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamie and Lalo Tejeda. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Lalo and Jamie Tejeda were born and raised in the central coast. They met in 2011 and often talked about their dreams of owning a small business.
Lalo grew up helping in his parent’s Lompoc deli and always had a passion for baking. He pursued that desire by attending Le Cordon Bleu in Minnesota, specializing in pastries. Lalo has worked extensively at high-end resorts creating pastries and desserts for many to enjoy. He also comes from a family of bakers and is thrilled to work in his own bakery now.
Jamie has a degree from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, specializing in hospitality and event planning. She has been in the wine and food industry since 2002 and always dreamed of owning a coffee and pastry shop where people could come and relax, read a book, or enjoy friends.
After five years of sharing different ideas of owning their own business, the opportunity came to them, and they opened Pardon My French Bakery on May 5, 2016. They are a husband and wife team and run the entire bakery just the two of them. Lalo is the pastry chef and Jamie handles the front of the house and bookkeeping. They have a 5-year-old son and a 2.5-year-old daughter that keep them busy when not at the bakery. You may even see the kids there when you stop by!
Pardon My French Bakery specializes in French-inspired pastries, gourmet cupcakes, special event dessert bars and weddings. Everything is baked from scratch and fresh daily. They will accommodate most special requests with advanced notice. They have some big and exciting new things coming to the bakery at the end of 2023, early 2024. Stay tuned!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Learning how to run and manage a business has been a huge learning experience and still is. We had two babies (both born one month early) which threw some curveballs, we went thru COVID, which forced us to get creative so that we didn’t have to close our doors, Lalo lost his father shortly after that, and then after years of recovering, we got knocked down once again with inflation. We survived through it all so far, but the inflation has been the absolute hardest obstacle for us. In the almost seven years we have been in business, we have definitely been tested, but have never seen anything like this. Business is slowly starting to pick up again and we are very grateful for that.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Pardon My French Bakery?
We have poured our hearts and souls into our bakery. We pride ourselves on the passion and love that we have for our business. Baking everything from scratch and fresh daily makes all the difference in the world. With Lalo’s knowledge and experience, he has the capability of making anything, even if it is not on our menu. Special events and weddings are fun because it allows him to get creative and really customize everything for the client. Lalo’s best work is done when he can just create from his heart.
We have always been huge supporters of our community and making sure we do our part in supporting small business, people who have been in our shoes (in business and life), and those who could use a smile. During COVID we started doing thank you boxes, where the community could donate $20 and we would put a box together with at least $30 worth of treats and we would deliver to first responders (law enforcement, fire departments, paramedics, hospital staff, retirement homes…). Since inflation has been stressful, then all the flooding around here and just the extra effort that everyone is putting in right now to survive, we decided to start of the boxes again and they are called Spread Love. It is the same concept, except we have added donations to community workers, educators, and just our community in general that could a pick me up. We are hoping to keep the kindness going and people pay it forward to others in the community.
We are very proud of where we are today and where we came from. There have been numerous obstacles along the way, but we always seem to come out ahead of it. In many ways, it has been very scary, but looking back on it, we have learned and grown so much over the past seven years. We look forward to where Pardon My French Bakery is heading!
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Owning a bakery was in our 5-year plan after we got married. 1 week after our honeymoon an opportunity of a lifetime came up and we knew we had to take it. 5 months later we opened our doors to Pardon My French Bakery. That was the biggest risk we have ever taken. We had no idea what we were doing, but we knew that Lalo had an incredible talent that needed to be shared with everyone. We knew this is something we eventually wanted to do, and all the stars aligned earlier than expected and here we are seven years later and going strong. We did a lot of learning along the way and figuring things out as we went. Our passion, drive and hard work ethics have kept us in business. Despite all hurdles along the way, we never gave up. If you aren’t willing to take risks, you won’t be able to grow as an individual or as a business. We are continuing to take risks all the time and put our all into what we have created.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pardonmyfrenchslo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pardonmyfrenchslo/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pardonmyfrenchbakery/
