Owners hope to open The Baker’s Son by Valerio’s, a Filipino bakeshop, by Thanksgiving in Atlantic North at northwest Kernan and Atlantic boulevards.
“We believe that there’s a good opportunity for us to not only serve the growing Filipino population in Jacksonville but also introduce a wealth of Filipino baked goods made from scratch throughout the city,” said Ariosto Valerio Jr., the grandson of the founder of California-based Valerio’s Tropical Bakeshop.
Valerio said July 24 he and his wife, Kathleen, own the Jacksonville location under the corporate name Valerio’s Bakehouse Inc.
The Valerios, who have five sons ages 6 to 20, intend to live part-time in Jacksonville, where they bought a house.
“My family loved our visits there,” Valerio said.
Valerio served in the U.S. Navy from 1996-2000, although not in Jacksonville.
“Being that there is a huge Navy population there suits me as well as it did in the West Coast where I was stationed” in San Diego, he said.
The shop is across Atlantic Boulevard from Jollibee, the Filipino fast-food chain that opened in March 2017. Jollibee said 3,000 customers came through on opening day.
“I chose Jacksonville because I saw an opportunity to serve the Filipino community and overall the whole city and knowing the success of Jollibee had,” Valerio said.
He said Valerio’s Tropical Bakeshop is a sister company. He and his wife co-own seven locations with his father.
“We are a made-from-scratch bakeshop that sells Filipino baked goods with pandesal (sweet dinner rolls) a Filipino staple being our most popular product,” he said by email.
“Also with the growing popularity of ube (purple potato), (it) gives us a chance to showcase all that we have to offer.”
The city is reviewing a permit application for Accelerated Contractors LLC to build-out shell space at 11957 Atlantic Blvd., No. 101, at a cost of $445,344.
Landlord Sleiman Enterprises shows the shop in 1,725 square feet of space in a corner next to Great Clips and Venetian Nail Spa.
ACT Architects LLC is the architect.
Valeriostropicalbakeshop.com says the bakery’s story began in the early 1950s in Manila, Philippines.
“A talented baker named Victor Valerio and his wife Milagros discovered that their fried dough, bicho-bicho, was so well loved by neighbors that they decided to open their first bakeshop in Cavite City,” it says.
“The shop’s success brought the couple to America,” it says, and they opened their first U.S. shop in 1979 in Southern California.
In 1994, their son, Ariosto R. Valerio, and his wife, Elenita, operated a shop that opened in West Covina in Southern California and made the new bakeshop the “Home of the Famous Hot Pan De Sal.”
The second-generation Valerio couple opened stores across the U.S.
In 2002, Ariosto Valerio Jr. and his wife opened another bakeshop in Union City, California.
Valerio Jr. said the Jacksonville shop will be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and he would like to hire 12-18 employees. He said he hopes to open more locations in the area.
“We are and always have been a retail to-go only bakeshop. Our concept was going to be self-served displayed goods but because of COVID we will pre-bag,” Valerio said.
Valerio said there are 12 Valerio’s Tropical Bakeshop locations in California and one each in Nevada, Washington, Illinois, Hawaii and Ontario.
He said he and his wife solely own The Baker’s Son and have ownership with his father in seven Valerio’s Tropical Bakeshops.
“Through the third generation, and to this very day, the Valerio tradition of baking excellence continues,” says the website.
“Our mission is to deliver our quality baking experience to your home. From our family to yours, our fresh baked goods are made to satisfy your every craving,” says the website.
“From our well-known dinner rolls, Pan de Sal, to our delectable kakanin desserts, you can never go wrong with our authentic Filipino baked treats.”
The website shows breads and desserts.
Breads include pan de monggo, egg pie, pineapple flower, cheese and wheat pandesal and haba-haba macupuno.
Desserts include banana cue, bibingka malagkit, cassava cake and leche flan.
The Baker’s Son will bake everything in-house and make fresh breads daily, Valerio said.
“There is a growing trend of Filipino goods being enjoyed by every culture because of the popularity of ube and seeing how underserved Jacksonville is with our type of business gives me great hope for success,” Valerio said.
