CLEVELAND, Ohio – It’s been a week to look both back and forward for Bridget Thibeault, owner of Luna Bakery & Café.
Wednesday was the 11th anniversary for Luna in Cleveland Heights, and this week also marks the fourth year for the Moreland Hills eatery.
Thibeault, a pastry chef, opened Luna with restaurateurs John Emerman and Tatyana Rehn of The Stone Oven Bakery & Café, another mainstay in Cleveland Heights.
“Quickly our little pastry shop became this massive concept,” Thibeault said. “I had to figure out how to run a huge business.”
After five years she negotiated a buyout, and had been mulling expansion at some point. She also opened a production facility in Cleveland to make croissants, cakes and cookies.
“But because of Covid I have been kind of rethinking everything,” she said. “Should I keep growing? It’s so hard to staff. Everything has kind of changed. I wasn’t actively looking to do anything, especially this year.”
But she met Joe Kubic, chief executive officer of Adcom, through a mutual friend, restaurateur Doug Katz. She said Kubic wanted a breakfast or lunch spot and began trying many of Luna’s menu items.
His love of the food, pro-Cleveland attitude and solid business dealings sold Thibeault on the expansion project. Her target opening date at 1468 West 9th Street – the Western Reserve Building - is by the end of the year, though that is contingent on approval of drawings and equipment, she said.
“I kind of have this built-in clientele with his office,” Thibeault said. “They do tons of entertaining and meetings, they have a great event space. I just thought, ‘Now is the time to go downtown because it is going to grow and get more expensive.’ I’m nervous about it just because of the state of the industry. But I feel good because I don’t have a lot of competition down there.”
To start, breakfast-lunch hours will be around 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., catering to the downtown business crowd. The Luna name already is known downtown, since the restaurant already delivers a couple of times a week to certain businesses, she said, so it will be easier to pick up more accounts.
“I wasn’t really looking,” she said. “I was thinking maybe in another year I’ll go near west side, like Ohio City, Lakewood. That’s the biggest request I get from people coming into Cleveland Heights – ‘When are you coming west’?” she said.
It was a good business relationship from the start.
“I felt like I was with an old friend, the more I talked with her. I loved the neighborhood feel (of Luna),” Kubic said.
Said Thibeault: “We’re going to stick with what we’ve done (for the new location) - more (like) Cleveland Heights. The building and space is really cool. The space has some nice brick walls and some cool metal architectural doors.” Lots of windows face the street, and there is a patio, she added.
“I think we’re going to keep it kind of natural.”
Summer menu changes are coming at her locations, and the downtown location will be streamlined a bit because of costs.
“We’re still going to have crepes and paninis, salads, breakfast items. Probably the biggest thing people will notice - not as many pastry offerings. We’ll have all the great breakfast pastries and cookies and macarons but probably not full-sized desserts you can take home. We’re still kind of working that out.”
Thibeault said she loves Kubic’s passion for Cleveland – he sits on the board of Destination Cleveland - and already is considering other food concepts that would work well in the space.
The location is a good fit and can draw from area traffic, Kubic said. In addition to Adcom folks, residents of nearby apartments, runners and dog-walkers are regulars in the neighborhood.
“I watched a lot of the restaurant scene get a little eroded,” he said. “It was very important for me to do my part to bring a great iconic brand downtown with this opportunity. There were a lot of other chains and interests, but I wanted to bring something downtown that will be special, if I could.”
That something special extends to the workers, Thibeault said.
“I think he just cares about his staff so much,” she said. “He really just wants to do this for them, about having nice amenities for them. Which is similar to how I am with my company. In this day and age you have got to take care of your people because that’s all you’ve got.”
I am on cleveland.com’s life and culture team and cover food, beer, wine and sports-related topics. If you want to see my stories, here’s a directory on cleveland.com. Bill Wills of WTAM-1100 and I talk food and drink usually at 8:20 a.m. Thursday morning. Twitter: @mbona30.
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