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It’s been a busy month for Patch Fraga, the 26-year-old owner of Patches’ Pastries, an LGBTQ-friendly bakery and dessert shop nestled in the heart of Ferndale. Fraga spent weeks meticulously crafting a menu of chocolate-covered confections and heart-shaped treats ahead of Valentine’s Day — one of his favorite and busiest days of the year — and now that the holiday rush is over, he can focus on his next big business venture: opening a new location in Fortuna.

Patches’ Pastries will soon set up shop at the corner of 10th and Main Street in Fortuna, in the storefront previously occupied by Il Forno Bakery. The new café will feature Fraga’s signature desserts, an expanded menu of savory options and, eventually, a full brunch menu. Once the business is up and running, he hopes to create a space where all residents can enjoy a cup of coffee and cultivate community.

“I’m so excited,” Fraga told the Outpost in a recent interview. “It’s funny, a lot of people think I live in Ferndale because I’m on the Chamber of Commerce, but I actually live in Fortuna, just a few blocks away from the new space on Main Street. It’s amazing, I don’t know if I’ll ever leave Fortuna again.”

Hailing from Humboldt’s vibrant Portuguese community, Fraga grew up eating Portuguese-style desserts and sweet bread, or pão doce, made by his grandmother. He started making his own baked goods in elementary school, which turned out to be a fool-proof way of making friends.

“I would just, you know, give away stuff I made to anybody who wanted to ask me about it,” Fraga laughed. 

He joined the culinary club at Arcata High School and took part in the National ProStart Invitational, a culinary competition for high schoolers. After graduating from high school, Fraga moved to Portland to attend the Oregon Culinary Institute and graduated with a pastry management degree. 

Fraga eventually made his way back to Humboldt and, in October 2020, began baking and selling pastries out of the tiny kitchen in Northtown Coffee in Arcata. “I shared the kitchen — probably an 8’ by 10’ room — with the coffee shop staff and Mother’s Cooking Experience, which was awesome but I quickly grew out of that space,” he said. “I started doing wholesale after about a year and as soon as I started doing that I needed to find something bigger.”

Fraga moved his business operations to the newly renovated commercial kitchen at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds in Ferndale. With the support of former Humboldt County Fair Association General Manager Richard Silacci, he opened his first café at Friendship Square. After nearly two years at the fairgrounds, Fraga moved to a new, albeit smaller space on Ferndale’s bustling Main Street.

“I can work in a small space but, unfortunately, I had to drop my wholesale because we couldn’t keep up with the demand,” Fraga said. “I have a proofer and a dough sheeter I purchased from the North Coast Co-op probably two years ago that has just sat because it’s too big for our space. I’ve looked at that thing so many times and thought, ‘I need to give this to somebody that’s actually gonna use it!’ and now I finally have the space to set it up.”

A few months ago, Fraga began leasing kitchen space at 1006 Main Street in Fortuna to expand operations and help ease the financial burden on Il Forno’s owner, Chris Vaulk, who was struggling to keep her business afloat. 

“We have a lot of customers that regularly come to the Garberville location from as far north as Trinidad, so [it seemed like] a good plan but, unfortunately, I found it difficult to maintain consistency,” Vaulk told the Outpost. “Before I had decided to close [in December], I thought it would help financially to share the kitchen space. … As I decided to close the doors I asked him if he might want to take the space over, and after some time he decided to take the leap.”

Vaulk hopes to continue to grow her business in Southern Humboldt and Northern Mendocino and said she can’t wait to see what Fraga does with the space. “I don’t know all of Patch’s future plans for the space but I know [he] has an amazing support network up there and I believe will be amazing,” she said. “I cannot wait to see what is offered. The space is beautiful.”

Fraga’s partner, Tate Contreras, has taken the helm of Patches’ Pastries in Ferndale while Fraga gets the Fortuna location dialed in. Fraga is still taking care of most of the baking, waking up as early as 4:30 a.m. to scoop cookie dough and roll up challah for his trademark cinnamon rolls. 

Along with increasing wholesale production at the new location, Fraga plans to add more savory items into the mix (pastries, paninis, soups, mini charcuterie boards, small plates, etc.) and expand cold case offerings to include whole cakes in a range of sizes and flavors.

“I have so many people that walk up to the spot in Ferndale and they’re like, ‘I need a whole cake today, right now,’ and I would love to be able to accommodate them, but that’s not something we’ve had the space for up until now,” he said. “We’re gonna have many slices available for purchase, as well as full-size cakes ranging from four-inch to nine-inch. … We don’t have that space in Fortuna — other than Safeway —where you can go in and get [a cake] that’s made with quality ingredients.”

Inspired by his time at Northtown Coffee, Fraga’s ultimate goal is to create a welcoming, comfortable space where people want to cultivate community, not just stop in for a cup of coffee. 

“A lot of the stuff I want to bring here — open mic nights, poetry nights and art shows — are all things that are inspired by Holly [Ameline] who’s running Northtown Coffee, “ he said. “She’s really shown me that people want a comfortable space to hang out and they will interact with it if you provide it. I just feel like coffee shops can be more than Starbucks where everyone is just silent on their computers.”

Fraga is getting a little wacky with it, aiming for “cute cottage grandma vibes” with a hodgepodge of antique furniture and curated art from LGBTQ+ and BIPOC creators. 

“I want to give them a space to be able to sell their art and just try to support as many people as I really can in this venture, especially in this political climate,” he said, referring to President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders targeting transgender and non-binary people. “It’s a lot harder for trans people right now.”

With that in mind, Fraga emphasized the importance of “conscious consumerism,” a more intentional approach to shopping. 

“I get a lot of people in the comments section — sometimes from my own followers — telling me I don’t need to say that [I’m trans] and it’s like, no, I do need to say that,” he continued. “If you don’t want to spend money with me because you don’t want to be supporting a trans person, that’s okay.  I don’t want you to feel tricked into coming here. … That said, I still get plenty of Republican-leaning people that shop with us [in Ferndale] and they’re like, ‘Man, you’ve got some good ice cream,’ and tell them it’s from the Foggy Bottom Boys and it’s all good.”

Asked if he had any words of wisdom for young people, especially aspiring business owners, Fraga said, “Go out and talk about it.” In a little place like Humboldt, people are willing to help, he said, and if they can’t help you themselves, they probably know someone who can. “I just think that the more we develop our own communities, the more fulfilled in life we’re all gonna feel,” he said.

Patches’ Pastries Fortuna doesn’t have an official opening date just yet, but Fraga hopes to welcome customers sometime next month.

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