Johan's administrative abilities, customer service experience and passion for photography diversify and strengthen the business's foundation. Meanwhile, Lucía can focus solely on the delectable creations they will offer at the shop. Lucía Merino is a thoroughly trained pastry chef born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Lucía attended Culinary School at Johnson & Wales University in Miami. She interned at the Ritz Carlton Key Biscayne under Master Pastry Chef Frederic Monet, and continued working there for 3 years. There, she developed her classical French training. She was encouraged by one of her mentors and boss at the time, Chef Jordi Valles, to travel and continue refining her culinary skills. While visiting Puerto Rico before her voyage to Europe, she reunited with her high school sweetheart, Johan Villafañe. They set sail for Spain together, where Lucía worked in Madrid and Barcelona acquiring experience in the creative and innovative world of Spanish gastronomy. During their time in Spain, they traveled around Europe obtaining inspiration and ideas. They began envisioning their future together, shaping their dream of running their own pastry shop. By early 2012, Lucía and Johan were back in Miami forming part of the opening team for the St. Regis Resort at Bal Harbour. Lucía worked as the resort's Pastry Kitchen Supervisor and Johan worked front and back of the house at Jean George Restaurant. Lucía later joined the Gotham Steak kitchen in the Fountainebleu Hotel at Miami Beach. Her ample hotel experience helped her develop her excellent managerial skills, overseeing the pastries and desserts for all departments and events for over 1,000 people. Each experience helped them continue evolving professionally, and their move to Dallas was no different. Lucía joined Chef Richard Gras’s team as Pastry Chef for Oak Restaurant in 2013. She shortly received a nomination for Best Pastry Chef and her famous french macarons were nominated for Best Dessert in Dallas. Driven by their shared ambition of creating a pastry shop, they built Sucre Sucré by lucía, a french macaron online shop. Their success helped them believe they were ready for the next step. They strategically saved their earnings in order to move back to Puerto Rico and begin working on Lucía Patisserie. For the past eight months after moving back home, they’ve been building their brand and getting ready for the opening of their shop.
