Blueberry Artisan Bakery opens to the public at 6:30 a.m. Dec. 11, after a soft opening over the weekend and a few hours after the pastry chefs arrive to start their baking day.
“We are creating a sense of place and a sense of community,” said owner Mark Janasik. “We just love to be in these neighborhoods.”
The bakery operates at 3247 Beach Blvd. in a St. Nicholas area building that bakery manager Stephanie Smith recalls started as a photography shop before serving other uses. Property records show the structure was built in 1967.
Smith grew up in the St. Nicholas neighborhood where her parents bought a house in 1982.
“This area has a lot of history,” Smith, also the wholesale and catering specialist, said Dec. 8 during a tour.
Smith’s mother, Barbara Smith, brought in flowers to celebrate the doors being opened.
Smith said St. Nicholas is one of the city’s first districts along with others that include Avondale, Springfield, Five Points and nearby San Marco.
“It’s the first bakery in this area,” said the self-trained baker of more than 20 years with a love of science, the primary ingredient in successful baking.
Blueberry Artisan Bakery will be open 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily serving cakes, cookies, muffins and pastries as well as breakfast and lunch. There are vegan and gluten-free options.
Blueberry’s model is based on grab-and-go with limited seating for 16 to 20 customers. Customers also can order online.
The city issued a permit Aug. 31, 2023, for Jacksonville-based Emerald C’s Development Inc. to build-out the 3,000-square-foot building at a cost of $409,246.
The city issued a permit in September 2022 for Realco Recycling Co. Inc. to remove interior partitions, doors, ceiling and floor finishes for design of a future build-out.
Janasik kept the original floors, ceiling and brick. Jacksonville-based Group 4 Design is the architect.
“We tried to honor the history of the building,” he said.
He declined to comment on the investment other than to call it significant.
Artist Natalie Milko created the mural on the side of the building. The concept of the mural is to geographically show the Southern Grounds and Blueberry Artisan Bakery storefront locations in an abstract manner. A blue “wave” represents the St. Johns River and the Atlantic Ocean.
Blueberry Artisan Bakery operates about 1.4 miles east of its former and smaller home inside Southern Grounds & Co. in San Marco.
Janasik, owner of Southern Grounds & Co. and other restaurant concepts, said in July the St. Nicholas bakery will cater to retail and wholesale clients with a scratch bakery and bread program for restaurants, hotels and the uses of his Southern Grounds locations.
It also will be another option for diners with an organic coffee bar with gourmet offerings for breakfast and lunch. Southern Grounds serves Intelligentsia coffee, and Janasik showed bags of the SOGRO flavors for sale – Campfire, Sunbeam and Inferno.
Southern Grounds’ motto is “Gather Together.”
“Building a bakery of our own was about more than just cultivating a business; it was a way to create a sense of home and community,” he said previously.
The St. Nicholas building is owned and was renovated by property development partner Edward Skinner Jones, of Neptune Beach-based SoGro LLC. He is the property owner and landlord.
Southern Grounds outgrew the wholesale order bakery space at the San Marco Southern Grounds at 1671 Atlantic Blvd., another building owned by Jones.
Janasik said Southern Grounds has changed the bakery area at that building and added seats.
Janasik said Blueberry has 40 items for sale retail and wholesale. Pastries include truffles, brittle, pies, cakes, cheesecakes, pastries, fruit tarts, morning buns, croissants and more.
“Our entire menu is made fresh daily by highly skilled artisan bakers committed to preserving the art and craft of traditional bread and pastry making while taking a modern approach,” Janasik said.
In 2020, Southern Grounds bought the assets of Biscuit and Buttercream LLC to bring the Jacksonville-based scratch bakery into the coffee house’s fold.
Janasik renamed it “blueberry, artisan bakery” and moved its operations into the front part of the San Marco shop.
Southern Grounds operates five coffee shops in Jacksonville with more to come.
Two are at Jacksonville International Airport.
Janasik and Jones opened the first Southern Grounds coffee shop in Neptune Beach in February 2016; the second in San Marco in June 2018; and the third in the Shoppes of Avondale in November 2020.
Jones owns those properties and Janasik owns the business. The coffee shops offer pastries, breakfast, lunch, dinner, beer and wine and market items.
Through Beach 3247 LLC, Jones bought the Beach Boulevard property in July 2022 for $300,000.
Restaurant & Hospitality Investment Group, led by Janasik, separately operates other restaurant concepts, including the planned Alder & Oak as well as Southern Grounds at The Hub Brooklyn in the Brooklyn/Riverside area; Alder & Oak in St. Augustine; and Oaxaca Club in Jacksonville Beach.
