In some of the stunning restaurant closings of 2023, Candy Girl Jane is closing all six areas on December 31, 2023. However in a shocking flip of occasions, Eater has confirmed that the 35-year-old bakery was acquired independently in mid-February, and its new proprietor plans to reopen all retailers — together with in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Calabasas, Encino, West Hollywood and San Fernando — within the coming months.
The brand new proprietor of Candy Girl Jane is Julie Ngu, the CEO of Pacific French Bakery which has 4 Southern California areas. Ngu and his household had no prior affiliation with Candy Girl Jane earlier than buying the enterprise on February 16, 2024. A consultant of the final proprietor of Candy Girl Jane verified that Ngu acquired the mental property of the bakery, recipes, branding, web site, social media handles, and tools. The identical consultant additionally shared that many different events had been eager about buying Candy Girl Jane, however Ngo's intensive expertise and data made him the perfect candidate to convey again Candy Girl Jane.
An enormous a part of Candy Girl Jane's success has been their signature Triple Berry cake, a three-layer yellow butter cake full of calmly sweetened whipped cream and three forms of recent fruit. “I toyed with the thought of simply having a bakery,” says Ngu. “But when we're going to do it, we're going to do it proper. I need as many individuals as potential to have entry to the Triple Berry cake.”
Though Candy Girl Jane was certainly one of Southern California's hottest bakeries, it has been struggling financially since early 2020. At the very least 10 totally different folks have taken management roles after founder Jane Lockhart stepped away from operations. in 2020. On December 31, 2023, the property wrote that: “Gross sales haven’t been excessive sufficient to proceed doing enterprise within the state of California, which permits us to service our rental obligations and pay our valued workers a dwelling wage.”
On January 13, 2024, the Los Angeles Instances stated the previous homeowners of Candy Girl Jane are dealing with a class-action lawsuit filed by an worker who says the wage theft occurred earlier than the bakery closed completely. Claims will likely be processed via the California court docket system and its new proprietor is not going to assume any accountability for alleged previous actions or debt of the previous proprietor.
In latest weeks, Ngu has been getting the phrase out that he's employed, posting a discover within the window of the Encino location. He didn't have entry to former Candy Girl Jane workers, however phrase unfold shortly, and Ngu has already rehired a handful of former employees. Additionally it is actively posted on social media that the bakery will open quickly, utilizing the hashtag #JaneIsBack. Ngu hopes to open all shops regularly over the subsequent few weeks as he renegotiates leases, establishes new utilities and secures legitimate permits.
A long time in the past, Ngu's grandparents immigrated from China to Vietnam and opened a bakery there earlier than shifting to america after the Vietnam Struggle. They opened Pacific French Bakery in 1986 and shortly discovered a strong buyer base within the Central American group of Southern California.
Ngu spoke lately with Lockhart, who opened the primary Candy Girl Jane on Melrose in 1988. “She gave us recommendation and felt like we had been passing the baton,” says Ngu. “In faculty, I went to the place on Melrose and I believed that someday possibly it could possibly be a bakery [owner] like Candy Girl Jane. We need to convey again the outdated spirit as a lot as we will.
