French-inspired café opens in Jonesboro: La Laiterie brings Breton Bakes to Downeast Maine

JONESBORO, Maine (WABI) - A new cafe has opened its doors in Jonesboro.

La Laiterie is serving coffee and pastries inspired by the Breton region of France. The owners say the inspiration comes from the climate which is similar to Downeast Maine.

The owners said they expect the menu to expand once they get more experience in the storefront, but they are already serving croissants, pâté sandwiches and house-made baguettes and sourdough.

One of the owners, Ross Florance, spent time in New York, California and Europe training with Michelin-starred chefs. Now he is bringing his talent to Maine with his own spot.

Florance is a chef first, but he believes the cooking and baking can speak a language.

“I was young when I decided I wanted to be a chef. I think it was like 10 or something. I didn’t realize that was a career. Both my parents are scientists, so it was a very different, my brother’s also a science teacher, so it was like parting ways quite a bit from the family business, In my personal opinion, everybody cooks. Every culture does. You don’t have to speak the language. You can go travel anywhere. If you know how to cook or you understand the language of cooking, then you can connect with anyone,” Florance said.

Florance and his partner Mckenna Koledo want their cafe to be a melting pot for the community. They said that Jonesboro doesn’t have many “third places,” or places other than a person’s home or work, to hang out or relax.

“One of the best parts of opening this cafe is providing a Third space for people. It’s providing an environment for people to build community. It’s providing an environment for people to see their friends. You can make new friends here. So that’s super exciting because we’ll see people come in and they’ll be like, hey, I haven’t seen you in so long. It’s so good to see you and they’ll start chit chatting and that’s honestly the best part,” Koledo said.

“Everyone in Maine works super hard, there’s nowhere, especially in Downeast Maine, to relax and enjoy yourself. I do hope people can meet up and hang out, enjoy themselves, eventually grab a glass of wine or a beer once we have that on the menu,” Florance said.

La Laiterie is open Thursday through Sunday from 8 a.m to 2 p.m.

The cafe is located at 749 U.S. Route 1.