The story behind our craft

For as long as we both can remember, our families gathered around meals.  Game nights, dinners, birthdays, holidays, memorials, celebrations - were all reasons to get together and have a meal.  

My (Kate) Babushka was the most hospitable person I knew - she ALWAYS was offering a homemade meal to newcomers, immigrants, new parents, grieving widows, recovering patients.  Anytime you'd show up to her house for a visit or an errand (or to borrow sugar), she would send you home with a plate (or 3) of some delicious (and most likely Russian) concoction she had made that day.  Her motto was "never return a dish empty".  She had outrageous hospitality.  When she graduated to Heaven I feel like she left me with an unannouced gift - to influence the world around me for the better by serving people "love on a plate".  My parents did the same.  They had a gift for creating memorale food.  I say my family ruined me for "normal" because my whole life I was spoiled with food that tasted GOOD.  Not fancy.  Not extravagant.  Just food made with love that did more than just fill your belly. 

For years as a new mom I worked in many areas of hospitality - corporate restaurants, chain coffee shops and the like - I worked hard to build a life IN the hospitality industry, not yet recognizing that I was the one who actually carried it. Fast forward some years, career changes, a divorce, and a whole lotta life...I found myself beginning to dream about what changing the world looked like, for me.  

Enter Bryan, who unmatchedly has changed my life for the better in a million different ways.  We've raised a family together, we've worked together, we've laughed, cried, and grieved together...we've cooked and created and planned together...and he is my sincerest most favorite human on the planet.  And...he's a master in the kitchen.  Bryan's family also has a special gift for food.  

As a new couple, we opened a small bakery/cafe in our hometown of Stanwood, WA.  We had run other people's businesses successfully for many years, and wanted to be in business for ourselves.  But we quickly found that having a great product wasn't the only thing to make a business successful (who knew, lol).  We closed our beloved shop and sold our house to pay off our debts.  We swore off ever doing something like it again.  It was a painful and necessary part of what would be our future success. 

When we moved to Redding from Stanwood, we immediately felt "home".  And as the years passed, we began feeling a stir in our hearts to open a business here - a bakery.  We prayed about the decision - and a few years later the idea for La Joie was born.  In our hearts it was simply - how do we create a space that allows for people to gather together and really experience food? We knew we wanted to bring a European feel to a place in Redding. We knew we wanted food to be the centerpiece.  We knew we wanted to create outrageous hospitality for our guests.  And we knew that we would be students of our surroundings.  

We met our business partners, Eric & Sadie Hess in the middle of what we call our "messy middle" after moving to Redding.  We shared with them the hope of one day opening up a space here, and as we got to know eachother and shared more of  the dream, the dream evolved right before our eyes.  Soon, we became friends and partners, and they have been the behind the scenes champions of La Joie since its conception.  Just like Rome wasn't built in a day, La Joie wasn't built without a team of committed and prayerful people who believed that changing the world through pastry was possible. 

We LOVE Redding.  We love the diverse groups of people that make it up.  We love our staff and our guests and the people that show up and allow us to serve them each day.   We love our craft.  Pastry is an art form and what a JOIE it is to do what we love every day!

La Joie exists to enrich our community through genuine care and craftsmanship, meeting people where they're at and serving them "love on a plate".