Mademoiselle Paris To Open Downtown Sarasota Café

SARASOTA, FL — Mademoiselle Paris, a French restaurant in the University Town Center area, will expand in Sarasota with a downtown café that’s set to open in October.

The new café, which will only be open for breakfast and lunch, will located at 1605 Main Street in the Wells Fargo Advisors Building, owner Jean Dandonneau said.

The space fell in their lap, he added. “We had been thinking of expanding and then learned about this available space downtown and thought, we’re already in Bradenton, so why not?”

Though their current restaurant is larger than the new location, he and his wife, Myriam Dandonneau, immediately saw potential in the downtown Sarasota space.

“It’s much smaller than we are, but it’s a good place to do quick service,” Jean said. “A place for people to grab lunch when they’re walking around. We’ll do breakfast and lunch: pastries, coffee, sandwiches, salads, quiche. It’s too small for dinner. The experience will be a little different than we’re used to.”

He expects the café to tap into those working and shopping in the area each day.

“They can come get a bite to eat and then go back to the office,” he said.

Myriam and Jean, who are natives of France, sold everything they owned and moved to Florida in September 2016 to open the first Mademoiselle Paris restaurant in University Park.

Though their background is in engineering and computer science, Jean grew up in the restaurant and food business thanks to his family.

“So, we love food and have a passion for food and wine. It was a good way to mix our passion and to be able to live,” he said. “(Opening Mademoiselle Paris) was a dream come true and is still a dream come true.”

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Their first year in business “was complicated,” the couple focused on building a team they could trust and “learned on the spot” alongside their workers, Jean said.

Their head chef, Arnaud Wallet, and manager, Isabelle Desvenain, have been working with the from the beginning. Wallet, who has more than 20 years of experience in the kitchen, even came over from France at the same time as them to work in the restaurant. They now have four French chefs on their staff.

“We have a very good, solid team in the kitchen,” Jean said.

The UTC-area restaurant, which is open seven days a week, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Many guests also come for the pastries, croissants and bread to go, he added.

At a time when many businesses are having difficulties hiring, Mademoiselle Paris has built a strong team by treating its employees well, Jean said. They even offer all workers health insurance, including dental, vision and life insurance, and pays above minimum wage, he said.

“We're French. It's something that's part of our culture to make our employees to feel safe,” he said.

The only position they have a difficulty filling is that of dishwasher.

“But everybody will tell you that,” Jean said. “I think I’ve been dishwashing the past six months. They come; they go.”

Despite the challenging year that 2020 was for many businesses because of COVID-19, Mademoiselle Paris came out unscathed thanks to the support of its customers. The restaurant only closed for one month early in the pandemic.

“People were really supportive. We stayed open all the time. We wanted to keep our staff and organized everything so that everybody could work a little bit and pay their rent,” Jean said. “We are really happy. We have good success.”

Now, the couple is focused on hiring for its new downtown café. They’ve already hired a manager, who has significant experience running restaurants in Barcelona.

And Jean doesn’t rule out opening additional restaurants down the road.

For them, it’s all about sharing their passion for French food and culture.

“We like to promote French culture,” Jean said. “It’s fun to share what we love.”

They even host events, like wine tastings, regularly. At each event, in addition to wine and food, they talk about French history and culture.

“We share a lot with people about where we’re from,” he said. “France is good for food and wine, obviously, and it’s also fun to share its culture.”