French Gourmet Bakery is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and it looks like it might be gunning for a revival.
On a sunny Ash Wednesday, customers ate their sandwiches, drank their coffees and had their sweets with ashes on their foreheads. It was an odd reminder of mortality in a café that seemed as lively as ever.
The Ramains have seen their fortunes ebb and flow since they started the bakery in 1973. The original French Gourmet Bakery operated along West Gray in Hyde Park, selling scratch-made French breads and Gallete de Rois. Seven years later, they purchased a property in River Oaks and established a new flagship store.
“The ’80s were our glory years,” said Lauren Ramain Montgomery. “We used to have satellite locations and used to be wholesale.”
Once upon a time, you could buy French Gourmet’s baked goods at supermarkets and grocery stores. But Montgomery said the family came to a decision to stop wholesale and focus on the core business, shutting down their other locations in the process.
Montgomery was direct when talking about the state of the business when she was brought on. “I saw an immediate opportunity to create a marketing strategy and take advantage of social media to promote the business to a younger generation.”
Since then, the store has undergone a remodel and has taken on corporate catering as a side revenue stream.
Despite all the changes, French Gourmet is still doing the same thing it’s done in the past half-century: making delicious, freshly made baked goods, she said.
Some of the staff have 20 to 30 years experience, and her parents continue to work in the kitchen. Her father, Patrice Ramain, still makes pâte à choux and eclairs from scratch.
“At this time, we don’t have any plans to expand, but you never know what the future holds!” Montgomery said. “We want to focus our energy on growing our business at our original location in River Oaks.”
Dining and Cooking