Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophie Vandecasteele.
Hi sophie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I have always been a passionate Baker, and although I have a pastry chef diploma from France I didn’t work in this field before I moved to the United States 10 years ago. Then I started to post on social media during covid and people reached out and ask me if I would sell the pastries that I posted. I then started pop-ups here and there and also farmers markets where I was able to get more and more customers. I was baking from home and rapidly ran out of space. I then found a little commercial space that I turn into a neighborhood Bakery in downtown Allentown in November 2024. I really enjoy being there and being close to people I wanted it to be the neighborhood business like in France where you get to know people everyday. Then I have been offered a bigger space just a block away from where I am it was still in downtown Allentown so I decided to move because we needed the space.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It’s been really challenging for me to get out of my comfort zone meaning baking from home to a commercial bakery without any experience especially since English is not my first language. I knew nothing about business especially in the foreign country but I decided to do it anyway
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
So of course as a French Baker I wanted to do something different from what we can find here so my bakery is only specialize in French pastries and baked good and for me it is really important to make everything from scratch and in-house with quality ingredients that’s why I use butter imported from France.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I really decided to get out of my comfort zone and start this business because after 7 years being a mom at home I wanted to do something for myself and we also have two kids I needed to finance the college because it is so expensive here. I am not a risk taker and I didn’t want to jeopardize my family assets especially since we have two kids going to college so it was a risky decision that’s why I thought it’s small
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Sophistiquefrenchbakery
- Facebook: Sophistiquefrenchbakery
