Meet Matthieu Thouvard of The Place To Be

Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthieu Thouvard.

Hi Matthieu, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After nearly working 20 years in the Semiconductor area, I decided to change of career; so I went back to school in France to become a baker. After getting the diploma, my wife and I decided to live the Californian experience. My wife, my 2 kids and I arrived in August 2018 in Santa Monica, California. We opened the Bakery in November 2018 and are still in activity 8 years later. We faced Black Live Matters, the COVID and the fire of Palissade.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has been and still is a VERY bumpy road. We faced Black live matters riot, the COVID and the fires of Pacific Palisades.
And now, we are living a very tough economical situation.

We’ve been impressed with The Place To Be, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We opened a Bakery in November 2018. The main target was to have roughly the same offer as a Boulangerie in France. we realized quickly that the demand in California is not the same as in France, so we adapted our offer.
The core of our offer was pastries like croissant, Almond croissant, pain au chocolat; baguette; and savory products like quiches, ham & cheese croissant, spinach feuilleté. We extended our offer with a full menu for Breakfast and Lunch
With all the events that happened, mainly COVID, we adapted quickly our offer with a small Epicerie (candies, chocolate treats, crackers, butter…)
Since then, we stopped the Epicerie, but we continued all the other products and enlarged the quiches and sandwiches offer.
Today, we are well known for the croissants, quiches and sandwiches as all our products are made with Low glutten flour.
Our website is:
https://maisonthouvard.wixsite.com/the-place-to-be
And you can follow us on our instagram
@theplacetobesm

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
The bakery is located on Main Street which is a nice walkable street. Most of our customers are living in the neighborhood, which create a wonderful ambiance and a community behavior.
The least I like about the city is the Homelessness situation.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://maisonthouvard.wixsite.com/the-place-to-be
• Instagram: theplacetobesm