Welcome to Soleil Bakery! Our shop is currently in soft opening!

About Us
Baking has always been a passion of mine. From an early age, I watched my mother make delicious desserts for our family, dreaming that one day I would do the same for my own. I always thought it would be nice to have a bakery with my momma. Part of that vision became a reality when we were stationed at Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, NM. With all our kids finally in school, I set out to create something unique, and Soleil Bakery was born.
As a military family, we lived in many places and tried different types of food. It was important to include some of those flavors in our treats, so the first thing I did was teach myself how to make French macarons. We had a close-knit community on base, and my friends were kind enough to eat all my mistakes and encouraged me to continue. The seed was planted, and we were excited to see how the business would grow when we moved to our next location: Washington, D.C.
Once we got settled, I started selling to other military families. Because of the positive response, I took a leap of faith and signed up as a vendor at a festival. This would prove to be a pivotal event for Soleil. Since macarons are naturally gluten-free, I noticed I was attracting customers searching for freshly baked GF foods. One customer, a sweet little girl in pink, was upset that she couldn't have my Cookie Monster macaron because it had a mini chocolate chip that wasn't GF. She had celiac disease. That moment changed me forever, and we switched everything to 100% GF.
After my husband retired from the Air Force, we moved to Ocala with plans to open a storefront. Until we were able to, I kept my skills sharp by becoming a vendor at the Downtown Market, selling macarons, cookies, blondies, and brownies. Demand was great, and the customers were wonderful, but just as we were beginning to outgrow our cottage business, we found the perfect spot and opened our first bakery. We continued to grow our menu and our customer base, and a year later, we opened our second location.
Our goal is for everyone to enjoy our food. While the rest of the story is still being written, it will always include that sweet little girl who changed our direction with her tears.
- Melanie

Days at the Farmers Market
