Owner Jennifer Lee has been baking since the age of 8 and has dreamed of owning a bakery her whole life. She attended The Culinary Institute of America in 2019 after graduating from high school. There she majored in Baking and Pastry Arts with the intent to expand her knowledge about baking and to improve her skills. However, as we all know in March of 2020 COVID hit and all students were sent home. Bored in quarantine, she was baking more than ever and soon made too many desserts with no enough mouths to feed. She then decided to post on her instagram stories that she was selling macarons and would deliver. After a few weeks of doing so through her personal account, her friend Ingrid convinced her to create a separate account and to give it a name…and that was the start of JLee Bakery.

 

For a while JLee Bakery was an Instagram only business, menus were posted and ordered were places through DM. Now most people would think that trying to start a business in the peak of COVID is crazy. Little did they know how needed a business like JLee Bakery was. Something that stood out about us was we did no contact delivery. The client wouldn’t have to leave their homes, they ordered online and the order would arrive on their front door and they never had to interact face to face. This brought a lot of joy during an uncertain and sad time, and allowed people to still celebrate.

 

After 6 months of being Instagram only, our website was created. We also joined yelp, google business, and our order form. Most importantly we got officially certified as a Home Bakery by The Cottage Food Operation License. A year later, Jen finally had to return to school, she would “re-open” during holiday breaks and summers. This went on until she graduated from The CIA in 2021. We then opened for our first full year in 2022 and it was amazing, this went on until 2023 when she decided she wanted to continue her education to obtain a Business/ Entreprenuershup degree. She is now currently a student at Johnson and Wales University and will graduate in May 2025. Soon after she hopes to open an actual storefront in Mystic, CT.

 

“To those of you who have been here since the beginning, thank you believing in me and following along on journey. I owe all of my success to you” ♡Jen