Beachside Bakery rises, facing obstacles

Palm Coast Observer
Business

The Beachside Bakery in Flagler Beach held a ribbon cutting April 11 — the same day as Panera Bread’s opening.

After five months of issues permitting and contracting a new restaurant in Flagler Beach, James Scott Triplett, co-owner of the new Beachside Bakery at 509 State Road A1A, was ready to give up.

“My wife (Joni) and I didn’t do this dumb,” he said, staring out at the waves beyond the bakery’s front window. “We sat down with county officials … (and told them), ‘We don’t know what we’re doing — we need to know.’ ”

Still, there were hiccups. After running a title insurance firm, Triplett Title, for the past three years, Triplett was finding it hard to transition into the food industry, a field he started in as a 19-year-old, managing the back end of a Greek restaurant in Tarpon Springs.

But Triplett was used to adversity.

Following the dissolution of a Jacksonville insurance business he shared with his mother, Triplett moved to Flagler in 2009 with four kids and little money.

“I only have two major skills,” he said, donning a baseball cap and apron shirt. “I know how to have a title company or be a culinary chef. But I can’t work for anyone. … I have to do it on my own.”

So he went with the former, all the while holding onto the long-term goal of someday working with food.

Triplett Title opened in Flagler Beach in the “absolute deadest time” for real estate, Triplett explained, a time when signing clients was most competitive. But he “forced” himself in and was quickly named affiliate of the year by the Flagler County Association of Realtors.

His second year in business, he became chairman of the organization. That’s when he again began getting serious about his restaurant idea.

The goal was to transform a former auto-parts store next to the Golden Lion Café into an eatery. But after five months of stagnation, his wife had to convince him that the goal was still worth chasing. A few months later, their roles reversed, and he found himself convincing her of the same.

After 15 months and $109,000 in renovations and equipment, the Beachside Bakery opened its doors last month, bringing in only $90 its first day.

“Holy crap, I failed,” Triplett thought, after Day 1. “I took a gamble, put everything I had, and I failed.”

But slowly traffic began to grow. Word of mouth spread. And by the time the company held its official ribbon cutting April 11 — in direct competition with Panera Bread’s opening the same day — Triplett described the turnout as “great.”

“This isn’t an area like I’m used to. I’m used to cities where you can actually get lost,” Triplett said, sitting back down after greeting a family who came in to see the space and shake his hand. “Here is completely the opposite.”

So he and his wife embraced the city’s size and eccentricity. Before opening, they visited all surrounding restaurants and took a menu, making a point not to double any specialty items sold nearby.

They also took a community approach to their startup. On the left as you walk in, you find rented wall space displaying handmade crafts from eight local vendors; on the right, a mural of Flagler Beach, painted by Kelly Krispin.

Toward the back, the couple envisions bringing in a third-party juice bar or sundae station.

In the parking lot, the same man who makes the bakery’s donuts works a hot dog stand.

Connected through adjoining doors is Paddle-Out Water Sports, Joni Triplett’s dream venture. It’s a beach equipment rental and sales store, with all items — bikes, kayaks, tents, etc. — leased from neighboring companies. It’s also a “beach concierge” service, where residents can rent supplies and then have their lunch catered and delivered to them by the bakery.

“We’ve never done anything like this before,” Triplett said, shrugging. And so he and his wife simply make their own rules.

In conjunction with cleaning the mile or so of beach in front of their stores every day, they also say they have considered creating a paddle-out camp for underprivileged kids.

“I think of business plans the same way I think about fairy tales: They’re hypothetical and made up,” Triplett said with a smirk. “We started out with baked potatoes. We wanted that to be a signature thing. Now, we’ve completely canned baked potatoes — they don’t sell.”

Walking through the Paddle-Out space beside the bakery, Joni Triplett, in a puffy chef’s hat, grazes with her fingers the bike seats and deck chairs as she passes. “We want to band together,” she said, all smiles. “(In Flagler Beach), we’re bigger together. We’re not trying to take it all ourselves.”