Jamey Sanders and Dolce opened on the Square in 2014

Published 7:31 pm Tuesday, September 3, 2024

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Jamey Sanders and Dolce opened on the Square in 2014.  From The Messenger is this story about that opening.

Dianne Smith

Dianne Smith

When Jamey Sanders worked as a piano teacher at Fuda  Music, he used to imagine the day when he would open up his own business on The Square.

He might even have walked by 78 North Court Square and pictured it just as it is today, a French bakery days away from peddling croissants and cupcakes to morning commuters.

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“This has been my lifelong dream,” he said.

Sanders chose to name the bakery “Dolce” because it is a musical term and means “sweet” in Italian.

Sanders got his first baking job in the 1980s.

He worked in bakeries in New York and Boston.  In 1992, while working at  the Continental Bakery in Birmingham, Sanders’ gingerbread recipe was featured in “Southern Living’s American Country Christmas” cookbook.

Sanders, a native of Ariton, returned home to be near family and friends and to start a new chapter in his baking career.

“It’s too cold up there,” he said.  “Down here, I can easily see people getting their croissants and going to the park.  Summer mornings are perfect for that.”

The floor tiles are shades of cinnamon and sunshine and  the walls are a match.  Sanders has marble-topped café table and a sideboard lined with covered cake glass cake plates.

“What I’m really going for her is a little taste of New Orleans,” he said.

He plans to play light jazz and a few of his favorite classical music pieces and start with a stuffed croissant as his signature staple.

“I’ll bow to what the populous desires and do the cupcakes,” Sanders said.  “But the croissant is what I really want people to fall in love with.”

The croissants will come in flavors like chocolate, apricot, pecan, cinnamon sugar and strawberry cream cheese.

As the business grows, Sanders plans to open for lunch with chicken salads, ham and cheese sandwiches and quiches.

By the end of the year, he will be ready to accept orders for wedding and birthday cakes.

Sanders will start with a soft opening as he transitions from a fulltime employee to an entrepreneur.

The shop will be open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.

All of these articles can be found in previous editions of The Troy Messenger.  Stay tuned for more.  Dianne Smith is the President of the Pike County Historical, Genealogical and Preservation Society.