The French Spot opens in Concord

The French Spot, opened by Vincent Attali and Maria Zapata, has become a popular bakery destination in Concord and Walnut Creek, areas previously lacking quality bakeries. The couple initially started as a pandemic pop-up before establishing their first brick-and-mortar location in San Francisco's TenderNob neighborhood. Living in the Martinez-Pleasant Hill area, they decided to invest in a local space to contribute to the regional food scene and reduce commuting time. After four years of savings from their SF bakery, they launched the Concord location through a two-year development process. The bakery is entirely self-funded by the couple without investors or partners. Their offerings include specialty items like guava cream cheese danishes and ube croissants, with particular attention to quality crusts and laminated doughs.

"We wanted to invest in a local space so that we can contribute to the food scene here. There are very few actual bakeries once you pass [through] the Caldecott Tunnel. It took four years of savings working out of the SF bakery before they were able to launch the second one in Concord."

"Building out a bakery is an expensive endeavor. My wife and I don't have investors or partners-it's just us. That was almost a two-year project, from finding the right space and then getting all the people to help us put it together."

"We make large batches of pie shells in-house. We use them for all our savory quiches and for our sweet pies. It is a very nice flaky pie dough."

Read at East Bay Express | Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda