You can smell the fresh bread at the newest East Sacramento bakery before you open the red candy apple-colored door.

Tucked away at 6511 Folsom Blvd., Moonbelly Bakery is less than 1,500 square feet, with counters packed with bread, pastries, croissants, coffee, teas and jarred preserves.

Owner Lucía Plumb-Reyes can be found in the back — doing what a head baker does — dressed in rustic short boots, durable light blue jeans, a plaid shirt, a yellow apron and a Moonbelly-branded bandanna inspired by the lassoed moon in the 1946 film “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

A neighborhood bakery has been the Sacramento native’s dream for years. The name “Moonbelly” is a family nickname now plastered on a sign tall enough to be seen several cars down on Folsom Blvd.

More than 15 flavors of jarred preserves line the wall of Moonbelly for $10 to $11.50 a container, with flavors such as cherry rose petal, cherry strawberry jam and pear vanilla bean. By noon on opening day, the croissants were sold out and slabs of frittata bread were being sold on a continuous loop as patrons shuffled in and out of the small space.

Bagged snacks including grissini bread sticks, candies and granola are tucked next to the jarred preserves, aprons and bandannas for sale.

“About a month after my son was born I got an appointment with a commercial real estate broker and was like ‘I’m doing this, I’m here, I want to find a space, let’s start this process,’ she said.

Plumb-Reyes was driving down the street last summer and found the single-story building that would eventually house Moonbelly. Before that, she considered dozens of spaces including a couple in Curtis Park and one in Land Park.

Plumb-Reyes’ husband Matt Strom said the journey in opening Moonbelly was filled with a lot of tears, push back and supply-chain issues so the night before the grand opening, he said he looked at his wife with relief.

“Obviously when someone starts a small business you’re like ‘oh my god how is this going to work?’, but it’s her dream and as a partner you can’t say no to someone’s dream.

“You just say ‘we’re going to make it work.’”

The physical act of making croissants and bread is what Plumb-Reyes said she enjoys the most and that more than anything is what drove her to start Moonbelly after 15 years of professional baking experience.

“I’m not doing this because I want to be a business owner, I’m doing this because I love baking croissants and bread,” she said. “For years to come, I don’t want to just be the one managing (Moonbelly), I want to be the one actually making the croissants and bread.

Moonbelly is open three days a week 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Friday to Sunday.

Moonbelly currently has two bakeries and two counter staff and is accepting resumes for future employment. The neighborhood bakery is looking for bakers to work alongside Plumb-Reyes and counter staff to take, package and ring up orders.

This story was originally published August 20, 2022 at 5:00 AM.