La Promenade launched in September 1985 when Lori and Yves opened the doors in the affluent community of Closter, NJ as a “gourmet-to-go” retail bakery. Our specialty was French pastries and croissants (baked fresh daily), French breads, pates, and cheeses. In addition, our product line included gourmet mixes, fancy teas, spices, and jams, which — at the time —were very popular products to sell since those types of items were not available in most supermarkets.
It wasn’t long before we began producing fresh food items such as Chicken Francaise, Beef Bourguignon, as well as delicious soups, all made fresh daily. As word of our specialty business spread through the community, various local country club chefs and restaurateurs contracted us to make their French desserts, which was the beginning of our wholesale bakery department. As time went on, off-premise catering increased and led to full service private home and corporate catering.
in 1995, Lori moved out of the Closter location to a free-standing building five miles down the road. In 1997, she bought the building and 137 Piermont Road became the permanent and current location of La Promenade.
Over the span of 37 years, La Promenade has gone through tremendous growth as we have always strived to keep our store and services current, based on our customers’ wants and needs; as well as market trends. With our experienced and talented staff, La Promenade has evolved into a full service bakery and catering company selling Grab-and-Go fresh and frozen foods. Our in-house menu changes daily and consists of salads, soups, sandwiches, personal pizzas, lunch, and dinner meals. This part of our business became extremely popular during COVID and is now a huge part of our success.
Our catering department has also expanded and has allowed us to offer our customers full-service, high-end catering for private parties, corporate events, weddings, bat mitzvahs, and more! We are also very proud of our beautiful product line of party goods and supplies that we keep current with the season.
Lori’s son, Julian, a graduate of Johnson and Wales, joined La Promenade in 2010 and son Corey, with a background in business, joined in 2017. With her two brilliant sons at the wheel and their expertise in food, operations, and customer relations, the business has grown threefold.
On that note, we graciously thank our staff and loyal customers who have and continue to grow with us.
