Detroit’s Only Filipino Bakery and Cafe Finds a Home in New Center
Jonathan Peregrino standing inside the space that will soon open as JP Makes and Bakes, a Filipino-inspired bakery and cafe.
Detroit is expected to welcome its only Filipino bakery in the coming months, as Jonathan Peregrino — who traded in a career in sales and marketing to pursue his pastry chef dreams — has found a permanent home for JP Makes and Bakes. The bakeshop will open at 6529 Woodward Avenue, Suite B in a space formerly occupied by clothing boutique, Ferne.
Peregino was a semifinalist for the Hatch Detroit contest, where he vied against several other food-based ventures for $100,000 in startup funding. The competition allowed him to introduce his pastries, cakes, and bread rolls to a wider audience. In the months since then, you may have seen Peregrino’s baked goods pop up in Ann Arbor, spots like Craig’s Coffee in Midtown, or Secret Bakery in Ferndale. In May 2023, he partnered with Folk to co-host a sold-out dinner series that showcased his childhood food memories.
Peregrino is hoping to open his bakery sometime this summer. The space is more or less white-boxed, save for a small closet to the rear of the interior that will need to be knocked down. The next several weeks will be spent installing kitchen equipment, including a hood, refrigeration space, cooktops, ovens, and a fryer. Detroit-based firm Push Design LLC will handle the interior. Peregrino says that the kitchen will be an open concept, akin to what you might see at Sister Pie or the new buzzy Oak Park bakery, Forest. The front area will offer limited seating for about 10 people. Peregrino has a five-year lease for the 1,400-square-foot space from the Shoppes at Woodward and has the option to renew for two additional terms. At the beginning of the year, JP Makes and Bakes was awarded a $60,000 grant from Motor City Match to help cover the cost of equipment and furnishings.
In addition to offering his popular cookies, brownies, chocolates, and bread rolls flavored with traditional ingredients like ube, the place will offer a full coffee and espresso bar, as well as a rotating selection of savory meals — ideal for those who may work in the area and are in need of a quick bite or caffeine break.
“I want to provide some savory options every so often, so I will be doing things like rice bowls a couple of days a week, or entrees that are no frills ‘here’s the kind of food that I grew up with eating’ and that is what [I’ll be] serving that day,” says Peregrino.
His upbringing as a first-generation Filipino American growing up on the West Coast is very much part of JP Makes and Bakes’ identity. While options for Filipino food were plentiful in his youth in California and the Pacific Northwest, it’s not as widely available in metro Detroit. Prior to launching his business, Peregrino spent 15 years working in corporate sales and marketing. In 2018 decided to attend pastry school in the Philippines as a means of recapturing the flavors of his upbringing. He’s since gone on to work as a pastry chef in Detroit, including as the pastry chef at Oak and Reel in the nearby Milwaukee Junction neighborhood and more recently at Le Suprême alongside veteran pastry chef Ben Robison.
Peregrino hopes to get through city inspections by July or early August and to open soon after. In the meantime, he’s doing a pair of pop-up dinners Friday, May 10, and Saturday, May 11, at Frame in Hazel Park. Tickets for the Friday seatings are sold out, but folks can still purchase reservations for the 8:30 p.m. seating on Saturday starting at $65 (beverage pairings are optional). The bakery will also make an appearance at Little Asian Bites, a night market launched in 2023 that highlights the region’s Asian American and Pacific Islander culinary offerings, taking place from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursday, May 16, inside Shed 5 at Eastern Market.