The bakery will be located at the Sands Casino Bethlehem on the first floor of the Shoppes at the Sands. The 2,000 square-foot fit-out will start by April 1 and will be completed in about 90 days.

David Pipe, who is partnering in the bakery with business partner Adam Kaufer and baker Joel Perez said the bakery will be called Joli Bakery and Café. Their intent is that the bakery will be the hub of a series of smaller French bakery cafes around the Lehigh Valley.

Pipe said he and his partners have already scouted out a couple of locations within a 15-mile radius of the Sands where smaller, 1,000-square-foot cafes could be located. Fresh bread, cookies and other desserts would be baked at the Sands and delivered to the other cafes.

Ultimately Pipe said his partners envision 10 to 15 bakeries with the Sands as the hub, and perhaps expanding under the hub and spoke model into even more locations.

He noted that Perez has already run 17 bakeries in France and currently has two in the U.S.