Palo Alto: Bon Vivant to be replaced by bakery

Uploaded: May 17, 2017

Downtown Palo Alto has lost a French restaurant but will soon gain a bakery with the opening of Tuts Bakery & Cafe at 535 Bryant St., the former home of Bon Vivant.

A message posted on Bon Vivant's website announced the closure: "After 6 wonderful years in Palo Alto, Bon Vivant Dining is now closed. We have exciting plans for the future, and hope to see many of our customers join us in our new ventures to come."

The restaurant did not return a request for comment.

Windows of the Bryant Street space have been covered with bright yellow signs advertising Tuts Bakery & Cafe. Online job listings describe Tuts as an "up and coming new bakery and cafe" opening locations in Palo Alto and San Francisco's Hayes Valley neighborhood.

A new bakery is opening at 535 Bryant St. in downtown Palo Alto. Photo by Elena Kadvany.

Tuts will serve fresh pastries, bread made in house and coffee. The owners hope to be open in Palo Alto by the end of June and in San Francisco in September. More locations across California and the country are on the way as well.

Comments

Posted by Midtown Mom, a resident of Midtown,
on May 17, 2017 at 5:49 pm

Exciting! We need more bakeries! Can't wait to try their fresh bread!

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Posted by Diner, a resident of another community,
on May 18, 2017 at 11:41 am

That's a shame. Bon Vivant was an excellent restaurant. Hope they can make a comeback. This doesn't seem like a very good location for a bakery that will be dependent on foot traffic.

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Posted by Bambi, a resident of Ventura,
on May 19, 2017 at 12:17 am

What a stupid name for a cafe.

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Posted by ChrisC, a resident of College Terrace,
on May 19, 2017 at 1:02 pm

Interesting .. a website without any information on it whatsoever. In this day and age, the online presence needs to be mostly in place. They should at least having something about themselves and their mission. And not really helpful to put a link to it in the article.

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Posted by ChrisC, a resident of College Terrace,
on May 19, 2017 at 1:17 pm

Even worse, on the not-ready-webpage, the links to follow on Facebook, Twitter, result in pages not found. A google search for Tuts Bakery does not bring up their website, so they have probably not taken the steps to submit it to search engines. So, clearly not ready to externalize their social media and website, but Elena has put the link in this article. Embarrassing for the business. Links should always be checked out, and value assessed, not just thrown out there.

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Posted by Steve Hubert, a resident of Menlo Park: Allied Arts/Stanford Park,
on May 19, 2017 at 6:33 pm

How did this happen? I do not remember voting to allow Bon Vivant to close, nor did I receive any notice that a new bakery was going to replace it or get to vote on that.

Did anyone look at the environmental impacts or traffic? Where are they getting their ingredients because if it is not made locally then that will increase traffic. And that is definitely something we should have had hearings about and vote on.

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Posted by Diner, a resident of another community,
on May 20, 2017 at 1:44 pm

Oh dear! It appears that Tuts Bakery does not have their website or social media presence built out yet. How will they ever survive???

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Posted by Alice B. Tokla, a resident of Menlo Park: The Willows,
on May 21, 2017 at 7:36 am

Will they have any brownies?

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Posted by steve job's ghost, a resident of Atherton,
on May 22, 2017 at 7:44 pm

I am opinionated about this.

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Posted by Diner, a resident of another community,
on May 25, 2017 at 12:18 pm

The website make it look like Tut's is going to be like Panera (Bread, Sandwiches, Coffee). That's not really what I think of as a bakery.

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Posted by That Guy, a resident of Menlo Park,
on May 30, 2017 at 10:58 pm

It's funny, I am willing to believe it was great, and I'm square in the target market, but I never went there. It seemed like it would be formal and kind of a hassle. I can't believe they were there 6 years without me trying it. So.... I can see why they closed.

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Posted by Happy, a resident of Crescent Park,
on Sep 21, 2017 at 3:07 pm

I'm super excited to have a new bakery in downtown PA. So glad you will be opening. I have to say all the earlier critical posts are so off base. Most certainly written by someone who is a competitor or had ties to the previous restaurant. Truly bizarre.

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