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What began as a passion has since turned into a well-known spot in the Granby, Connecticut, community and beyond.
Julien’s Farm Store, which opened in 2023, is a “garden gourmet-style” farm store and bakery that offers handmade breads, cakes, pastries and more, all made from scratch.
Originally from France, owner — and the name behind the store — Julien Tessier’s love for culinary came from his mother and grandmother’s “exceptional” cooking. That love eventually turned into a long career as Tessier became a trained chef and pastry chef, working in Hythe, England and London.
In London is where he met his husband, Christopher Peregrin.
In 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, Tessier and Peregrin moved to Granby, along with their dog, Winston.
Peregrin, who lived in Granby about 20 years prior, started a horse farm on Julien’s Farm Store’s property years ago with its current owner and longtime friend.
With a vacant apartment above the horse barn, Tessier and Peregrin moved in.
Peregrin took his passion of training horses and offering riding lessons to his friend’s son, while Tessier received the suggestion of opening a “sandwich type” shop on the property, as there is a lot of traffic from people at the barn.
At first, Tessier decided to set up a “little farm store cafe.” Fast forward three years later, and Julien’s Farm Store was born.
Inside the store are a plethora of alternating baked goods, from chocolate croissants to lemon almond poppyseed loaves, and beverages ranging from cappuccinos to strawberry matcha lattes.
Tessier said some of their most popular items are the biscuit sandwich and donuts. He described the donuts as a “brioche style” that is extremely soft. “People often compare it to the Italian style of [a] donut … it’s different than the cake donuts that we have here in America - it’s softer.”
Other popular items include cinnamon rolls, banana pudding and tiramisu, to name a few.
Peregrin said everything has its own audience. For instance, there are offerings for people that are gluten free, and when those items are available, customers come and “stockpile” them.
On Sundays, Julien’s serves brisket, which Peregrin said has its own following.
“Different people come specifically for different things, which is cool,” Peregrin added.
Another one of Tessier’s passions, aside from cooking, is gardening.
“I started gardening during the weekends or during my time off — my downtime — as a private chef,” he said. Referencing the garden next to him, he shared, “This kind of like grew and grew and grew.”
Today, Tessier still takes care of the garden, planting and nurturing everything himself, which takes up a lot of his time.
While he is “off” Mondays and Tuesdays, he spends his time in the garden mowing the grass, trimming plants, planting, and thinking about what next year’s garden will include.
“This is all me. I designed it all, I planted it all, I choose every single plant,” he shared.
Next to the garden, and sitting beside the farm store, Tessier pointed out the wooden raised beds that customers were sitting at, to which he built as well.
“It’s a labor of love and really a long [commitment.] Gardening is like you watch the seasons go by and then you think about what you can do next year because there’s snow on the ground,” he said.
When it comes to the cafe, Tessier said it grew out of support from the community.
“We had [huge] support from people. It was incredible and it felt very special,” he said.
From building the cafe, Tessier said they now know everybody in Granby. “It has kind of grown organically on its own,” he shared.
He went on to say that it has been “very rewarding” in the aspect of meeting and connecting with people, solely from what they built.
“I think that’s been the most rewarding thing for me,” he added.
Describing himself as “well-traveled,” opening Julien’s and connecting people around the area has allowed Tessier to “anchor” himself to this space and to the community more than ever, he said.
He went on to recognize the growth of the cafe since its opening two years ago. On the outside, the cafe has tables for people to sit and enjoy their food and drinks.
“It seems like every week there’s two more tables and another umbrella,” Peregrin said with a laugh.
Tessier said they even had to convert space out back into a parking lot. “It kind of becomes like a concert sort of moment during the weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, there’s lines of people wrapping around the building,” he added.
Due to its successes, Tessier shared that they are currently trying to open a second location in town, as they are keen on keeping Julien’s a “Granby thing.”
“We thought that the flagship has to be in Granby because we have so much in our community … I didn’t want to go anywhere else,” said Tessier.
He said they are trying to open a second location near Geissler’s Supermarket, as there are some vacant shops there that have good parking and are in a more visible area then its current location.
Peregrin added that the second location will allow them to have more room for ovens, as right now, Julien’s has one convection oven and two induction plates. “That’s like camping equipment,” he said.
The new space will give the team more space as well, as there are currently six people working and baking “non-stop” in a 100-square-foot space.
In the beginning, the thought was that it would be Tessier and maybe someone else helping him, but it quickly became clear that more people were needed.
“The second location will give them a kitchen,” Peregrin said. “This isn’t a kitchen. There’s no hood. There’s no gas. There’s a coffee machine, which is great, but that’s it.”
He shared that when someone who works in the industry visits, they look around and think, “What? How?”
Tessier described it as a puzzle. Because of the size of the space, they have to figure out when to get people in, when he can get in there, and “dance around each other” to work and cook.
“We make everything from scratch so that makes such a big difference,” Tessier said. He noted that a lot of supermarkets or bakeries in the area get their items pre-made.
“That’s not the case here. We make everything from scratch, so it takes a long time. We make all the cookies, all the donuts, all the donut fillings [are] made by hand,” he said.
While Julien’s is only open Thursday through Sunday, there is someone in there working seven days a week.
Tessier shared that they have a close relationship and receive products from a farm around the corner, Holcomb Farm, which is owned by the town. Holcomb does organic farming, operating from a “CSA sort of structure,” he said.
Also nearby, Sweet Pea, a dairy farm, provides Julien’s with its dairy products, which all the coffees are made with.
Julien’s coffee is provided by Those Guys out of East Hartland. Tessier noted that they create “special blends” of coffee for the cafe, which people rave about.
“They’re small, we’re small, everybody’s small, but we do very good quality stuff,” Tessier said.
He went on to say that he thinks people are “taken” and “proud” of the fact that a lot of the food offered at Julien’s is grown locally.
“We’re basically all just working with each other,” he said, “and it stays local.”
While the products stay local, Peregrin noted that people come from all over New England to visit Julien’s since word quickly spread on social media.
For Tessier, another rewarding part of the business is that he can constantly create new items, whether it’s changing the donuts or creating a new danish flavor.
And for Peregrin, the most exciting part is that it feels like they haven’t even started yet.
“We haven’t really done a lot of food. We just haven’t had the tools or the equipment. You know, we do the biscuit sandwiches and then a big baked goods offering … but Julien’s a chef. So, the thing I’m excited by is I kind of don’t even feel like we’ve started.”
Looking back, Peregrin said the first two years of Julien’s were a “small part of the story” because once they really start doing food, he thinks it will become even bigger.
As the conversation wrapped up with Tessier and Peregrin, a customer came out and said, “They [the workers] keep bringing things out, Julien, it’s not fair, I can’t go home!”
“That’s the strategy,” Peregrin replied with a smile.
When it comes to opening the second location, Peregrin said, “It will certainly open before the third location … We’re just getting started.”
Julien’s, located at 175 Barn Door Hills Rd. in Granby, is open year-round, Thursday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For more information, visit juliensfarmstore.com or follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
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