Mark Janasik, owner of Southern Grounds & Co. and several other restaurant concepts, is moving the Blueberry Artisan Bakery business several blocks east to a building owned and being renovated by property development partner Edward Skinner Jones.
“We are outgrowing our current space with all our wholesale orders,” Janasik said March 8.
Jones said the present bakery in the San Marco store “has outgrown the space for its bakery needs.”
In 2020, Southern Grounds bought the assets of Biscuit and Buttercream LLC to bring the Jacksonville-based scratch bakery into the coffee house’s fold.
Janasik renamed it “blueberry, artisan bakery” and moved its operations into the front part of the San Marco coffee shop at 1671 Atlantic Blvd.
Janasik and Jones said bakery will move to 3247 Beach Blvd., which is 1.4 miles east of the San Marco location.
The bakery produces and provides wholesale pastries and baked goods to the Southern Grounds shops as well as to wholesale and other clients.
Blueberry’s menu online shows a raspberry torte, cheesecakes, cakes and vegan pastries as well as brownies, cookies and more.
Its website, the blueberrybakery.com, says it offers more than 45 desserts, including truffles, brittle, pies, cakes, cheesecakes, pastries, fruit tarts, morning buns, croissants and more.
Restaurant & Hospitality Investment Group LLC, managed by led by Janasik and another partner, filed the name Blueberry Bakery Jax LLC with the state in May 2022 at the new address.
Southern Grounds operates four coffee shops in Jacksonville with more to come.
Two are at Jacksonville International Airport, where one opened post-security in February 2022 and a larger shop and bar will open pre-security this summer.
Janasik and Jones, a Neptune Beach-based investor, opened the first Southern Grounds coffee shop at 200 First St. in Neptune Beach in February 2016; the second at 1671 Atlantic Blvd. in the San Marco area in June 2018; and the third at 3562 St. Johns Ave. in the Shoppes of Avondale in November 2020.
Jones owns those properties and Janasik owns the business. The coffee shops offer pastries, breakfast, lunch, dinner, beer and wine and market items.
Through Beach 3247 LLC, Jones bought the Beach Boulevard property in July 2022 for $300,000. Property records show the 3,107-square-foot structure was built in 1967.
Jones said the bakery is in the historic St. Nicholas area, “which is in line with the placement of the coffee shops in unique buildings and in historic areas of Jacksonville.”
He said construction should start within the month and anticipates it would open this year.
The city issued a permit in September 2022 for Realco Recycling Co. Inc. to remove interior partitions, doors, ceiling and floor finishes for design of a future build-out.
Restaurant & Hospitality Investment Group separately operates other restaurant concepts, including the planned Alder & Oak as well as Southern Grounds at The Hub Brooklyn in the Brooklyn/Riverside area; Alder & Oak in St. Augustine; and the soon-to-open Oaxaca Club in Jacksonville Beach.