Wolfmoon Bakery will celebrate the grand opening of its brick-and-mortar location Friday in Bonita Springs. The new cafe-style bakery is at the Entrada development on the northeast corner of Bonita Beach and Old 41 roads in between the newly opened Waffle Monkey and The Boba Shop.
Clara Fasciglione founded Wolfmoon in January 2021, starting as an online business selling her croissants out of a commissary kitchen. Customers could purchase a box of eight croissants for a singular order or cafes could order wholesale.
“I noticed before that there aren’t any fresh pastries made from scratch [in the area], so I sold to five coffee shops, but I could have sold to way more,” Fasciglione said.
Fasciglione, who grew up in Argentina, had dreams of opening a coffee shop since she was a teenager, and she considered herself a baker for as long as she could remember. “I have the memory of people coming to me and telling me, ‘You were making crepes for everyone when you were 9.’ And at 12, my thing was brownies,” she said.
When Fasciglione decided to take the leap into the cafe business, she originally thought to open near Fifth Avenue South in downtown Naples, but said Bonita Springs was more appealing.
“I feel Bonita is growing fast. It has a younger community, and I had a feeling that downtown Bonita has more soul. It gave me a more comfortable feeling,” Fasciglione said.
Everything customers can order from Wolfmoon, from the breads, crusts, dressings and syrups, is made in-house, served from hand to table. Fasciglione will be offering desserts like creme brulee and tiramisu, along with breakfast and lunch items, such as quiches and granola bowls. Classic coffee and espresso-based beverages will be offered with beans from Take Two coffee roasters. Take Two was co-founded this year by Caleb MacPherson, founder of Narrative Coffee Roasters.
“[Fasciglione] really values quality, not just at the product level but really the whole customer experience,” MacPherson said. “That was something that I felt that we meshed with really well. It seemed like a very good business relationship from the get-go.”
Croissants will remain at the forefront of Wolfmoon’s menu, with options such as the double chocolate Black Wolf croissant and the milk caramel-filled Suprema croissant. Fasciglione began making the Argentinian-style croissant as a way to reach out to others from her home country. These are known as medialunas, translated to half-moon. Since then, she leaned more toward French-style croissants and pastries to open a successful business.
Making pastries from scratch is an early-rising job, she starts making her croissants at 3 a.m., which inspired the name Wolfmoon.
“When I was thinking about opening a business, I would never open an Argentinian business, so I wanted to create a product and a brand with the American appeal,” Fasciglione said. “I still will have some Argentinian items, but that’s not the goal. The goal is to reach out to everyone. I don’t want to be segregated.”
Fasciglione attributes much of her success to a dear friend she met when she first moved to Michigan from Argentina. Fasciglione was her chef and they quickly developed a close friendship. When her friend moved to Naples full time, Fasciglione was asked to follow.
Fasciglione credits her friend, who has since died, for her finding a home in Naples.
“I would have ran away to Argentina in a few months’ time, but she kept me here and she saw something in me, and she provided that nest and all the opportunities and resources and support,” Fasciglione said. “She was definitely a big part of this, she didn’t get to see it, but I showed her the floor plans and the design.”
Wolfmoon Bakery’s grand opening will be at 10 a.m. Friday and will be open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.
