Le Torte Dolci opened at 9 a.m., said Lisa Freeman, who owns the business with her husband Dan. The bakery is the most recent business to open along North Fountain Avenue, which already includes businesses like Winan’s Chocolates and Coffees, Bada Bing Pizzeria and Stick and Stone, a home decor store.
“The Springfield city leadership is trying to put more retail-friendly restaurants and shops downtown,” Lisa Freeman said. “Hopefully we’re getting in on the ground floor.”
Lisa Freeman said she started the Le Torte Dolci in her home but the couple has been looking for a permanent location as the business has grown. They opened a pop-up store downtown late last year for a few weeks and said the bakery sold out most days.
Once they learned a permanent space was available, they had signed a lease by February. The family wanted to model the bakery on similar small businesses they saw while on vacation in Europe. Vacation photos of some of their past trips line a back wall of the bakery.
Dan Freeman said he’s expecting a steady crowd for the first day.
“We’ve been pretty active on social media and we’ve got a lot of loyal followers,” he said.
Whenever possible, the bakery will use local ingrediants in their products. Lisa Freeman said they already use beer from Mother Stewart’s Brewing Co. in pretzel bread and a candied jalapeno relish from Mad Sweet Heat for homemade biscuits.
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