ST. CLOUD -- A popular eatery in downtown St. Cloud is growing again.

The owners of Jules' Bistro on West St. Germain Street have gutted the basement with plans to install new walk-in coolers and freezers, more storage space, and a new prep kitchen. Once that is done they will gut the kitchen space on the main floor and build a whole new kitchen area.

Co-owner Donella Westphal says the renovations will allow them to grow their bakery department.

Right now our bakers can only work in the middle of the night or on Sundays when we're closed.  So the kitchen expansion in the basement will give us the opportunity to do more bakery.  We have had a hard time keeping up with the demand for our bakery.  People really love our cakes and cupcakes and cookies, so we'll have a better ability to meet the demand for that and grow it.

She says they've also been getting more of a demand for catering services.

That's something that's organically grown since we started three years ago.  We would like to be able to better meet the needs of people who are looking for catering for office parties, or office meetings, that kind of thing.  Our kitchen is pretty small and pretty tight.

Westphal says she also wants to expand their menu options for breakfast and dinner, offering more locally sourced foods.

The basement remodel should be done by late March, and then they'll start on the kitchen remodel during which they'll have to be closed for about two weeks.

They nearly doubled their dining space two years ago.

She says when they bought the business back in 2017 they always had plans to expand the seating area and remodel the kitchen, but the timeline has been moved up by several years.

Jules' Bistro employs 24 people with 10 of those working there full-time.

Jules' Bistro is open Monday through Saturday from 7:30 a.m. until 10:00 p.m.

They do take reservations.

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