Meet Sadie Russo of La Patisserie Francaise

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sadie Russo.

Hi Sadie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I am an Environmental Consultant turned Baker! I moved to Colorado from Connecticut to attend CSU and never left this great state! I worked for 15 years as an environmental consultant doing GIS work as well as fieldwork and took some cake decorating classes with a friend for fun. Soon that spiraled into making cakes and cupcakes for friends and co-workers entering cake competitions winning competitions to running the competition.

I soon realized that cakes and sweets brought smiles and joy to others and that was really what I was looking for in life! I bought La Patisserie Francaise 11 years ago from an ad on Craigslist!! La Patisserie had already been around 20+ years when I acquired it and just needed a little TLC to bloom. When I took over, I hired the original owner, Joseph Romero, to train me in his recipes as well as his methods.

We still use the same recipes and methods he developed 30 years ago to make the scratch-made baked goods we service today. I love running a business in a community like Arvada because while it’s a City it has a small-town feel to it. The Arvada Chamber of Commerce, Arvada Economic Development, and the whole Arvada community give the bakery a “home” and make us feel like a true part of the community.

Our retail customers bring us into their special events and make us feel like a part of their family. Our wholesale customers support us as a business owners. The Chamber and AEDA bring everyone together and facilitate so much! I was lucky to have found a business in Arvada because the support of this community has helped me thrive both personally and professionally in the last 11 years and will continue in the years to come!!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I would not say that it has been a smooth road but even with a few bumps here or there the Arvada Community has helped us through! The last few years with COVID were not an easy time for any business. We were lucky enough to be considered “essential” as a food business and remain open throughout the pandemic.

However, we had created a spin-off restaurant 8 months before COVID started and had to close that business which was hard. But that closure led to putting more energy back into the bakery. Having to cut back on employees during COVID because of a reduction in sales was hard. We love and rely on all our employees.

Laying them off was hard because I feel that it was my role to support them as the owner. The last year has been difficult with ingredient acquisition and pricing. We had to spend more time searching for ingredients to keep the same standard of great chocolates that we use. Many ingredients have increased by 30-50% over the last year.

And at the beginning of 2023, Colorado instituted a cage-free egg rule. This further increased our egg prices by 50% compared to mid-2022. It’s difficult to keep our product pricing in check with what people are willing to pay when our ingredients keep increasing. Overall though, I feel lucky in my 11 years as owner. Any obstacles or challenges have made us better and more resilient for the future!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about La Patisserie Francaise?
La Patisserie Francaise is a made-from-scratch, European-style bakery. We make everything from breakfast pastries like cinnamon rolls, croissants, turnovers, and strudels, to dessert pastries, cookies, dessert cakes, custom cakes, and wedding cakes and cookies. We still laminate (the process of folding dough and butter together to make fluffy croissants and turnovers) our dough.

Few places still do this themselves as it becomes easier to buy pre-made doughs. We say we are “European-style”. To this means our pastries and cakes are amazing in flavor but lighter and less dense in texture. They satisfy your taste buds but don’t weigh your stomach down!!! With 15 flavors of cakes, we offer a wide variety of options for any occasion.

We are also known for our sugar cookies. We set ourselves apart by using white chocolate to coat and decorate the cookies. We can even print custom images or logos directly on the cookie!! If you are looking to wow a crowd with dessert, La Patisserie Francaise is the place to go!

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I am a “duck”. This stems back to a college introduction when asked if you could be one animal, what would it be, someone answered a duck because it flies, it can swim underwater (some do), and it can walk on land. After hearing that I too wanted to be a duck. I have both a pilot’s license and a scuba certification so, am now a DUCK!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lapatbakery.com
• Instagram: @la.patisserie.francaise
• Facebook: @lapatbakery
• Twitter: @LaPatisserieCO