Ashley Coiffard co-owns L’Appartement 4F, a bakery with locations in Brooklyn Heights and the West Village, with her husband, Gautier Coiffard. The couple has become well-known in the pastry world after transforming their home baking project into a beloved destination in less than three years.
The business idea came about during the coronavirus pandemic when both were working in completely different careers: Mr. Coiffard, 37, was a software engineer, and Ms. Coiffard, 35, was a school nurse. What began as hosting and baking for friends evolved after they went to France and ate delicious croissants on every corner. They decided New York had room for one more bakery, even if it was, at first, just their tiny apartment.
The Coiffards’ approach combines his pastry skills and methodical background with her community building and social media savvy. Recipes like a $50 mini croissant cereal have brought them viral fame.
They live in a two-bedroom apartment in a Brooklyn Heights brownstone with their mini goldendoodle, Chip.
Ms. Coiffard recently shared how she spent a busy Wednesday juggling work at the bakeries and an accompanying wine bar at the Brooklyn location, L’Apéro.
This interview has been condensed and lightly edited.
NATURAL ALARM CLOCK Gautier and I don’t set alarms. We both wake up at 6 a.m. naturally. It’s been like this for about three years now. It’s honestly a curse. Even when we’re away with friends, we both just wake up so early now. But it’s nice to know I can rely on my body to always wake me up at the same time.
PLANNING ON THE PROMENADE We go for a very long walk every morning for at least an hour. We walk around Brooklyn Heights, we go to the Promenade, and we walk up and down all of the piers. We love it, and it wears Chip out for the day. Some days, I walk almost 20,000 steps. My dog and I are both a little anxious, so I find long walks help with our anxiety.
FAVORITE BREAKFAST I make myself a yogurt breakfast with the Persian brand the White Moustache. It’s a tart yogurt, and I always add blueberries, granola and dark baking chocolate chips. It’s my hyper-fixation meal right now. After learning I was pregnant, I woke up and had an aversion to eggs, which I haven’t really recovered from yet. Unfortunately, the pregnancy ended prematurely, but it’s still affecting my taste buds. Gautier had some pastries from the bakery, and I cut up some fresh strawberries.
UNEXPECTED MEETINGS Ally Walsh, a small-business owner from California, owns a coffee company, and she was in town. She sent me coffee and DMed me on Instagram to see if we could meet in the morning, so I met her at the bakery right after we had breakfast. This kind of stuff happens often. People who own small businesses, especially when they’re traveling to New York, will reach out just to meet. And Gautier and I attract a lot of businesses that are couple-owned. It’s always nice to meet with other small-business owners, chat and hear about what they are up to.
A NEW FOCACCIA I met with Nicole, the head baker at the Montague Street location. She’s debuting a new summer focaccia. We already tasted it and approved it two weeks ago, but I wanted to take some photos so I can post it and talk about it. I also saw one of our baristas, Jacob, and I had a small meeting with him just to make sure everything is good. He’s coming up on two years with us.
BANANA BREAD INNOVATION I took the train to the West Village location and tasted a new syrup that one of our bakers, Alexi, made. It’s a banana bread simple syrup. The staff was freaking out about it, so I wanted to taste it, and I think we might put it on the menu for drinks.
HIGH STANDARDS I had a meeting with our front-of-house manager, Layla, and Sam, our hospitality lead. It’s a new position. He has a really robust knowledge of wine and coffee, and we’re tapping into his coffee knowledge. He’s going to make sure all the baristas are super trained, and we want to raise the standards for coffee.
FAMILIAR FACE After visiting the West Village location, I went to the newsstand and bought a copy of The Times. We were recently mentioned in the “21 Best Croissants” article, and I wanted to make sure I got my hands on the print version. I ran into one of our dishwashers there, which is really funny. I bought two copies.
LATE LUNCH AT HOME I tried to grab a late lunch at Poppy’s, but it was closed. So I went back to my apartment and ordered a turkey burger with a side salad from Westville around 2:40.
WINE BAR CHECK-IN I had a meeting with Irene, the new wine bar manager, who I’m really excited about. She comes from Rhodora, and this is her first month with us. I wanted to make sure that I checked in and talked to her about some events we have coming up.
BRANDING FEEDBACK I went back to the apartment by 4 because I had a meeting with our branding studio and Gautier to talk about the direction of the branding. We went over new menu designs and merch, and it was a really good call. This job has brought me out of my comfort zone when it comes to providing honest feedback, but I am working on it.
CROSS-TRAINING At the end of the day, we met with the wine bar staff. We created a plan for next week and spoke about having all of our front-of-house staff come to the wine bar. We want to close it one night and have them taste the menu and learn about the different wines we’re selling.
SOCIAL MEDIA SPONTANEITY A lot of the time, my social media posts are in the moment. When I get to the bakery, if I see a pretty vignette, or if I want to highlight a pastry, I just take a photo, and there’s no rhyme or reason. It’s just whatever feels exciting at that moment. But other times, I like to plan content with Audrey, our brand manager. I think about things that are happening in the world. Last year around the U.S. Open, for example, I knew I wanted to post a tennis racket with a tennis ball made out of butter.
EVENING ROUTINE I ended the day chatting with an old friend on FaceTime while Gautier worked on testing a brioche recipe. That’s something we spoke about early in the morning on our walk. I told him I really wanted him to pick that back up, and he’s already doing it. After he’s out of the kitchen, I’ll make us dinner — ground turkey with peppers, onions, black beans and cilantro lime rice. It’s my own version of Chipotle and the only recipe I can make.
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