Meet Fabienne Soulies | Pitchoun! Co-owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Fabienne Soulies and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Fabienne, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
First and foremost, “Pitchoun” is a family story. Fabienne and Frederic Soulies, the owners, are both bread and pastry lovers. Frederic comes from a long line of family bakers and farmers in France. He had a vision of bringing his passion for French artisan bread and pastry to Los Angeles! Frederic inherited the love of natural organic, home grown produce, natural resources and the passion that stems from it. Although having gone to college, Frederic’s passion for cooking brought him to graduate from the National School of Bakery in Paris. Fabienne on her side inherited the knowledge of Mediterranean cuisine with an Italian twist from her parents. She’s more into marketing while Frederic oversees the production side. They wanted to open a bakery & restaurant where absolutely everything is homemade and where they could consequently show their customers the difference in quality and taste.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Pitchoun! provides Angelenos with the quintessential French-American dining experience. From house-made baked items to freshly made soups and salads, everything is prepared from scratch on site using family recipes in our state-of-the-art bakery and tastes just as it would in France. The bakery specializes in creating freshly baked bread and pastry, made with locally-sourced or organic ingredients and house-made sourdough starter. Some of our baked items are truly unique, like our Strawberry croffin or our Fig and nut bread loaf. The ‘Patisserie’ Dessert team at Pitchoun! is full of amazing talent, and creates specialty fine individual desserts, Croquembouches and large cakes, or creates a variety of chocolates for the holidays that can’t be found anywhere in the city. Pitchoun! has won several awards in bread, pastry and dessert since its opening in 2015. The restaurant menu has been revamped this summer and proposes now a wider choice of sandwiches and entrees, like a Chimichurri sandwich or a ‘California avocado Tartine’ that are out of this world! Our Chef de Cuisine has designed a very unique French American catering menu. Our Catering team works hard every day to prepare the most amazing sweet and savory bites for corporate meetings as well as for fancy parties’ custom needs.

Pitchoun! DTLA completes its menu also has a wonderful selection of French wines and craft beers at the DTLA location, to purchase by the glass or by bottle, on site or to go.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We love the wide spread of Los Angeles, allowing visits and ambiances totally different from one day to another according to the neighborhood. Downtown LA will bring the NY style vibes and the beautiful historic core buildings architecture that will explain the DNA of the city ; while on the other end, life is lighter by the beach, with the quiet shore from Venice to Malibu or enjoying shopping in Santa Monica. In the center of the city, the luxury and classicism of Beverly Hills will offset WeHo’s and Melrose eclectic and colorful vibes. The food scene is boiling in all parts of the City of Angels, it’s hard to make a choice between all the fabulous dining places. You get the availability to eat at a different spot every day, without coming twice to the same spot in a year! Some of the iconic joints would be in our opinion dining outdoor with your +1 at Gjellina, brunching at The Ivy, celebrating happy hour at The Perch, sipping a cocktail at the Beverly Wilshire hotel, or having a retro breakfast at the Original Pantry Cafe.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Success is not a strong word for us as it’s subjective and overused… we’ll say that Pitchoun’s accomplishment and its owners’ happiness have indeed been due to lots of love, sweat and determination. It takes two to tango, well it took Fabienne + Frederic’s passion and vision to concretize the bakery concept we had in mind. Our respective families supported us and helped us a lot as our first work days were endless.
Then, creating from scratch a new business, in addition family-owned and in a foreign country, is never a quiet road! Permits and health inspections are always tough. Financial means shrink as months pass by before the real opening. Thou, once doors were opened, we forgot all of that and our relief has been since then our customers’ daily satisfaction. We’ve got two restaurant openings, in two different neighborhoods (Downtown & Beverly Grove areas) and each time it’s been such a reward to hear the locals’ sweet and congratulating words. We are also very appreciative of both our landlords and of local institutions in each neighborhood, as they have always helped us promote our new business or support us during the Covid-19 crisis.
Finally, achieving all of that would not be possible without a great team. Our staff has been devoted and hard-working in every department of the company since Day 1, we couldn’t be more grateful to them. From bakers and cooks to Front of the house crew members, from our constructive managers to our happy dishwashers, they have always been dedicated. Hard work is there but powered by good vibes and individual pleasure, and this positive company spirit is important to us to continue to grow.

Website: www.pitchounbakery.com

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Yelp: Pitchoun! DTLA & Pitchoun! Beverly

Other: TikTok: @pitchounbakery