Editor’s note: This month’s Business Beacon is a spotlight on PB&J Bistro & Café, a whimsical cafe featuring creative cuisine made with ingredients from local purveyors. One half of the husband-wife ownership team, Jess Bauer, talks to us about sourcing local ingredients, bringing community together and just where that quirky name came from. Find them on Facebook, Instagram and the web.
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1. How did you get the idea or concept for your business?
JB: A month into my husband and I dating, I realized our initials were “PB&J.” Since he was a chef, I told him that if the relationship worked out, I would love to open a restaurant with him!
2. Let’s discuss numbers: What year did you open? How many locations do you have? How many people do you employ?
JB: We opened in March 2023 in City Food Hall in Destin Commons with four employees and a dream of having our own brick-and-mortar restaurant. We got that opportunity and moved our business to Niceville, had our grand opening on August 3, 2024, and now have grown to 16 employees (and are very proud that we brought our four employees with us to our new location).
3. What do you sell or what service do you provide? What’s your best seller?
JB: We have a soup/salad/sandwich lunch menu and a casual fine dining dinner menu. The lunch menu stays the same, but the dinner menu changes seasonally. Our most popular lunch item is our BLT (with locally sourced bacon and lettuce) and our most popular fall dinner item right now is our housemade pumpkin ravioli with maple glazed pork belly.
4. What’s unique about what you do or offer?
JB: We try to source locally whenever we can, so we VERY PROUDLY have 17 local purveyors for everything from coffee and wine to chicken and honey.
5. How would you describe your business to a potential customer?
JB: We are as farm-to-table, made in-house, as we can (but still have enough time in the day to go home and sleep at night) with a focus on our motto, “We’re Better Together” in everything we do, trying to bring community together.
6. What do you love most about your line of work?
JB: Meeting guests! I was a family law attorney for the last 12 years and had many heavy but very meaningful cases, so I love this new chapter of my life of being able to meet people in more delightful circumstances. I get the opportunity to give back to the community in ways that are more sustainable for me, long-term.
7. What sorts of trends are you seeing in your industry?
JB: Frankly, it’s a little scary to see how many locally owned restaurants are going out of business and closing their doors, especially when I’m so new to this industry. My husband has been in it for over 20 years and has seen many businesses come and go over the years, mostly corporately, but it is an alarming trend to see so many small businesses closing in recent years.
8. Tell me in just a sentence or two what you feel sets you apart from your competitors.
JB: I don’t come from a background in the restaurant industry, and I left the legal profession to pursue this, so, in designing our business model, we tried very intentionally to be the business neighbor that our town could be proud of, with actions behind our priorities— so beyond great food and hospitality, we give back to local charities as we are able, and provide free resources to the community like our lending library and our art gallery hallway, with the intention of being “better together.” We aren’t just focused on our bottom line; our focus is making this business purposeful and meaningful to us and our community,
9. Who or what inspires you? This could be a family member or celebrity, a particular quote or even a book/movie/podcast. The sky’s the limit!
JB: My mom inspires me. She was one of the first female accountants and has been to over 40 countries despite coming from a very modest background in a small town in Tennessee. Also, despite all she has achieved, she is humble, so most people don’t even know about her accomplishments.
10. What’s the best thing about being a part of the Emerald Coast, personally and/or professionally?
JB: We have a great community — it has this small town feel in the best ways but also has this awesome mixture of diversity through the military, so people can be so welcoming and fit in, no matter what their walk of life is.
11. Are you/your business involved in the community in any way? Volunteering or giving back? If so, how?
JB: The main charities we are involved with are Food for Thought and Destin Harvest since they are both food-related. We also just started carrying a wine that a percentage of sales goes to the EOD Warrior Foundation. We’ve done numerous charity dinners and events, including A Bed for Me, Shelter House and Destin Charity Wine Auction.
12. What does a typical day in your business look like? (Pretend it’s Monday (or Friday!) and take me through the highlights of your day.)
JB: Besides setting up for lunch and dinner service, every day is different, and I get to wear a lot of hats, whether it entails the macro jobs of managing, marketing or analytics or the micro-jobs of being a server’s assistant by helping my staff: refilling waters, bussing tables or organizing the flow of the dining room through hostessing. During service, I feel like a conductor, making sure a beautiful symphony comes out. Our team is like an orchestra — when the timing and execution of the food are paired with genuine hospitality, the result is a great dining experience on multiple levels, which can lead to great memories for our guests, spending quality time with those that mean the most to them, around a delicious meal.
13. What’s your best “insider tip?” (This could be a community tip for vacationers or homeowners or even a tip for customers related to your business.)
JB: Visit Norriego Point! It’s our favorite beach and where we got married. It’s the most beautiful place in Destin, right in the middle of everything, but still a place that’s a little hard to find, making it more secluded.
14. How do you recharge or relax when the day is done?
JB: Spend time, intentionally, off social media … which usually takes some pre-planning to give myself something to look forward to after work with my husband, even if it’s something small like writing our annual Christmas letter together, making a charcuterie board, going for a walk or getting my feet wet in any kind of water: pool, hot tub, or the gulf!
15. Just the deets, please! Where are you located? Business hours? Social media profiles and/or website links we need to know about? (Please feel free to add social media handles or direct links!)
JB: [We are located at] 120 Partin Drive North, Niceville, FL, 32578. Closed on Sundays and Mondays, [we are] open for lunch 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and open for dinner 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Find them on Facebook, Instagram and the web.
16. One final question: If there was just one thing you wish the public knew about your business, what would it be?
JB: This is our dream come true!
