from “le détroit” · the strait
JP Makes and Bakes, a years-long pop-up turned storefront on Woodward, opens as the city's only Filipino bakery with help from a Motor City Match grant.
A Filipino bakery years in the making opened on Woodward Avenue this week, giving New Center a storefront that Jonathan Peregrino spent the better part of a decade building toward.
JP Makes and Bakes opened at 6529 Woodward Ave., Suite B, marking what the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation calls Detroit's only Filipino bakery and the 176th business to open through the city's Motor City Match program. The program put a $60,000 grant toward the buildout, money Peregrino used to add the equipment that turned a long-running pop-up into a permanent kitchen.
Peregrino, a first-generation Filipino American who grew up in California, came to baking the long way. He started cooking and baking as a kid to pass the time during asthma-bound afternoons, then spent more than fifteen years in sales and marketing before leaving to formalize his skills at the Academy of Pastry and Bakery Arts in the Philippines. He moved to Detroit in 2019 and worked the kitchens at Warda Patisserie, Tapped Coffee, Oak and Reel, and Le Suprême. He competed on Food Network's Holiday Baking Championship in 2020, and the bakery's path to a storefront drew support along the way from Hatch Detroit.
"Opening a business has always been my dream," Peregrino said in materials released by the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation. "I originally thought I'd start a restaurant, but I realized that baking is my true passion." He added that he was "thrilled to be able to bring flavors I love and miss to Detroit, a city that's so passionate about food."
The draw is the purple. Peregrino works ube, the bright Filipino yam, the way other bakers reach for chocolate, and the signature purple pastries have become the bakery's calling card. The lineup runs to Filipino staples made from scratch, from pandesal to ube cookies, alongside modern takes on the classics. The coffee program leans Filipino too, with ube syrup as a flavor option and coconut milk on hand as a dairy alternative.
City officials framed the opening as a neighborhood gain. "Jonathan is not just opening Detroit's only Filipino bakery, he's adding to the neighborhood's identity," Mayor Mike Duggan said in the Motor City Match announcement.
At opening, JP Makes and Bakes kept hours of Wednesday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., closed Sundays and Mondays. The bakery is at 6529 Woodward Ave., Suite B, in New Center.
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