RYAN PIROG | THE BG NEWS
Kiss Kiss: Lips-shaped "Pucker Up" treats lay ready to be snatched up by customers at Myle's Baker Street.
The shop known as Myles Baker Street, located at 434 E. Wooster St., opened in fall of 2006 by Meredith, daughter of the Myles family, and her husband Abe Valle.
The Myles family owns the pizza shop, Dairy Queen, flower shop and, of course, the bakery that offers sweet treats and lunches for those looking for a different type of experience in the northwest area. With Valentine's Day approaching, the flower shop and bakery will deliver both flowers and chocolates, as well as any time of the year.
"We realized in this area there's really no French-style pastry shop," owner Abe Valle said.
Meredith Myles-Valle attended the School of the Art Institute as well as a French pastry school in Chicago to enhance her artwork. She did not expect to fall in love with the art of pastries or plan on making a career of her talents in the industry.
"Once you finish your degree ,you have to work in the industry, and I worked in a wedding cake shop," Myles-Valle said. "I soon realized this is what I wanted to do."
She always knew if she decided to go into business, she would return to her hometown of Bowling Green. Her childhood was greatly influenced by her family's businesses and she loved to help in any way she could.
"I was definitely around food growing up," Myles-Valle said. "I'm still convinced my dad would put certain things on the menu just so I could help."
She even remembers the day she was finally allowed to work in the pizza shop.
"I really enjoyed working at those places," Myles-Valle said.
Valle worked in the pizza shop during his years in college and has managed the shop since 1994.
"I had other jobs before that but I didn't really care for them," Valle said. "I really like the restaurant business."
Valle was able to learn how to run a business from behind the scenes by working with a couple of Fortune 500 companies after college.
"I've always had a natural curiosity of how products are sold for this or that," Valle said.
Valle's business background and Myles-Valle's pastry education and creativity have allowed for a successful team of owners.
"We make a pretty good team," Valle said.
Wedding cakes are the bakery's biggest seller.
"We've established a strong reputation," Valle said. "We have wedding cakes booked to 2012."
The bakery also sells imported chocolate from Belgium that they melt down and hand dip each day, as well as offers breakfast and lunch with soups and sandwiches.
"We use locally organic grown fruits and vegetables out of Tiffin," Valle said.
Each recipe and design of the bakery has been created by Myles-Valle from the waffle floor tiles to the frosted chocolate cake wallpaper.
"This to me is a complete representation of me," she said. "This would be my ideal environment."
Customer Don Jordan makes Myles Baker Street part of his mornings about three times a week.
"It's the best coffee in town," Jordan said.
He also sees the creativity of those behind the counter.
"The bakers are real artists," he said.
Worker Andrew Bruner, who measures out all of the ingredients, enjoys the company of people he works with in the kitchen.
"It's the people I work with that really make the time go by," Bruner said.
Bruner enjoys the grilled cheese sandwich and would recommend it to anyone.
"That's my number one recommendation," Bruner said. "It's not your normal kid's grilled cheese."
Bruner also sees it as a place to treat oneself.
"If you want to spoil yourself, we're definitely a cool place to come satisfy your sweet tooth," Bruner said.
Myles Baker Street prides itself on providing something different for the community.
"I can't stress enough how we don't make box mixes," Valle said. "It just separates us, we wanted to do something with our own stamp on it."
The freshness of the products is one of their main goals.
"Our goal here on a daily basis is to make a fresh product from scratch," Myles-Valle said. "I don't believe in preservatives."
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