After decades of creating elegant wedding cakes, catering social and corporate gatherings, and turning out delicate eclairs and towering croquembouches, The French Gourmet is calling it quits after selling its Turquoise Street property to a Los Angeles developer.
While the sale closed in late September, the bakery and restaurant have remained open, but the plan now is to cease operations Jan. 4, said Michel Malecót, who opened the business in Pacific Beach in 1989, 10 years after launching The French Laundry on Pearl Street in La Jolla. Up until about 1998, Malecót continued to operate both bakeries.
Now in his 70s, Malecót said he hadn’t been looking to sell his north Pacific Beach business, but when he was approached a few years ago by the developer, Kalonymus LLC, to purchase his French Gourmet property and an adjoining parcel he owned, the deal, he said, was too good to pass up. The amount offered covered both the value of the property and what it would cost to purchase the business as well, he said.
Malecót didn’t reveal the sales price, but according to the San Diego County recorder’s office, his two Turquoise Street parcels sold for $7 million.
Although Malecót said he was aware the developer had a housing project in mind when they consummated the deal, he assumed it would be moderately sized and had no idea that what was planned was a 23-story high-rise that has drawn the ire of the surrounding community. Malecót said he signed his sales agreement in early 2023, before word was out that a residential tower was planned for Tuquoise Street.
“When I was in negotiations with them, they were talking about doing a standard project with apartments and a restaurant on the ground floor and asked me if I would consider taking over the new restaurant. I said I’d consider it,” Malecót said. “They didn’t say how big it would be. I was as surprised as anyone else when they brought that project up last year.”
The project is currently under review by the city of San Diego.
Michel Malecót, owner of The French Gourmet. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Escrow was supposed to close last January, but that was extended to September, and Malecót was given until January to continue operating his bakery and restaurant. But business has not been great, he admits. It’s partly because of a local backlash related to the sale but also due to the expectation that the business was to close at the beginning of the year.
“I gave my notice to a lot of my good customers and that we were going to retire, so the past 10 months have been dreadful as far as business,” Malecót said. “I should have said, forget it and close it as planned, and I would have saved myself hundreds of thousands of dollars. Everybody stayed on payroll. So because of the lack of revenue and the fact (that) people are not happy with what’s going to happen to the building, we suffered a drastic cutback in business.”
The truth is, says Malecót, he’s growing older — he’ll turn 74 in January — and he doesn’t really need the business anymore.
“I’ve served my time, 46 years in business, and two years ago I had a couple of wake-up calls healthwise,” he said.
There was also a time when it appeared The French Gourmet might not survive at all. In 2008, it was the target of a surprise raid by immigration authorities who arrested 18 workers. Malecót would eventually plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of employing undocumented workers and pay a fine of $396,000.
The business continued to thrive, but where catering at one time accounted for about 70% of revenue, in recent years that has fallen to 40%, he said.
Jennifer Sutherland assists Holly Bertz with selecting a pastry at The French Gourmet. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
While Malecót says he doesn’t need to continue working, he would be open to finding a place to operate a small bakery with some of his longtime employees, some of whom have been with him for decades. The goal, he said, would be to have them eventually take over the business, should he open elsewhere.
The French Gourmet employed as many as 102 workers in the past year, according to a required layoff notice sent to the state Employment Development Department.
“This is very bittersweet because my job is very rewarding,” he said. “I’ll hear people say, ‘We’ve been coming for years’ or ‘This was my mom’s favorite restaurant,’ so I want to finish the year with the best we have ever done and maybe some other opportunity will happen.”