bake - November 2017 - 50

one from Laduree!) and just fell in

owners, Andrea Meyer of Bisous

love with French pastry. Eventually,

Pâtisserie

Not unlike many retail bakery
Bisous Pâtisserie in Dallas admits she

we had an opportunity to live over

juggles many tasks. "I'm the business

in Paris for a few months while I

owner, head pastry chef and retail

was still with (Ernst & Young) and I

manager, which essentially means I'm

ﬁgured if I didn't choose to do pastry

also our web designer, social media

as my profession after that trip, I'd

coordinator, HR rep and handyman! 

just shut up about it already!"

50 < NOV 2017 | bakemag.com

still very involved in the shop every

After a casual course at Le Cordon

day," she says.

Bleu in Paris on one Saturday
morning, Meyer knew she'd discov-

Nothing to her shop's success has

ered what she was meant to

been simple. A former project

do. "Needless to say, we returned to

manager at Ernst & Young, one of

the United States and I was enrolled

the world's largest accounting and

in Le Cordon Bleu's program in Austin

ﬁnancial services ﬁrms, Meyer made

that following spring! I knew that to

a series of calculated risks to realize a

do the type of pastry I wanted to

longtime dream of owning a patisserie.

accomplish, at the level I wanted to
work, I needed further education."

Meyer started her business, Bisous
(which means kisses in French),

She made the most of her culinary

in January 2013, doing predomi-

school experience and then went to

nately wholesale and catering to

work at Thomas Keller's legendary

grow the business. The retail store

Bouchon Bakery in Yountville,

opened in February 2015. "My path

California. There she studied and

to this adventure with Bisous has

learned as much as possible without

been a bit, let's say, non-linear,"

losing sight of her goals. Meyer

she explains. "I put myself through

returned to Dallas after a few years in

undergraduate studies at the

California and hit the ground running

University of North Texas by working

to get Bisous started.

as a manager at Williams-Sonoma
here in Dallas. That's really where I

Today, the patisserie is widely

caught the bug for food, but never

regarded for having the best French

really considered it as a career."

macarons in Dallas; it's been their
signature specialty since opening. Her

Upon graduation, she started grad-

shop carries at least 12 ﬂavors on

uate school but ultimately decided

hand every day, sometimes more.

not to be a professor. Then, she
worked for about ﬁve years at Ernst

Being so new, the business is

& Young, LLP as a project manager.

continuing to evaluate trends and

Soon, it took a visit to the famed

how they impact the business. "We

Ladurée patisserie in Paris where

have seen our customers learn more

Meyer found her calling. She and her

about French pastry these past

husband traveled nearly every year

3-plus years and are slowly learning

to France, starting with their honey-

how to discern between the well-

moon in 2003. "That's where I ﬁrst

done products and those that are of

tasted French macarons (a vanilla

a lesser quality," Meyer says.  

KEVIN MARPLE

Bisous Bisous

We're still a growing business so I'm
http://www.bakemag.com
bake - November 2017

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