The biggest takeaway was something almost frustratingly simple:

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Not in a romantic, whimsical way, but in a very real way. To taste. To compare. To understand where we stand.

It’s easy to think you’re doing something well when you’re removed from the places that defined it. Less easy when you’re standing in a city where butter, flour, and time have been refined over generations.

So we ate a lot of croissants. Some beautiful. Some forgettable. A few that made us pause.

we took notes.

We’re a little obsessed with studying the croissant.

Not just eating them, but really understanding them. What makes one good, what makes one great, and what makes one forgettable.

It feels like we’re maturing in how we think about pastry. And honestly, how we think about our entire menu.

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By that point, we had already made the decision to take the leap. Professionally, we were excited. The idea of new exposure, a new market, and pushing ourselves again felt energizing. It wasn’t fear that brought us here, it was curiosity and a belief that if you take the risk, opportunities tend to open up. (over the last year, that has proven true in ways we couldn’t have predicted. Being here, being part of this community, led us to this opportunity.)

But before any of that, we wanted to make sure Nashville felt right for our family.

So we brought the kids with us in the spring of 2024. We drove the country roads, hit up the playgrounds and paid attention to what stuck. It wasn’t about convincing them. It was about discovering it together.

One of the stops on that trip was Cheekwood Estate & Gardens.

We walked through the gardens slowly, kids running ahead of us, stopping at things that caught their attention. The turtle pond, winding miniature trains…The kind of place you don’t rush through.

We all felt it.

That small, unspoken “ah ha” moment.

That this was where we were supposed to be.

Perenn has always been rooted in a love of places like Cheekwood.

Perenn’s name itself comes from “perennial” plants. Things that return, that grow stronger over time, that become part of the landscape in a way that feels both natural and lasting. Gardens have always been a woven thread through our lives, even before we realized we were building a business around those same ideas.

One of our favorite things to do when we travel to England is visit the Royal Horticultural Society gardens.

We walk. The kids run ahead. We take our time. And then we inevitably find our way to the cafe for a scone, tea, or an occasional, very good slice of cake.

It’s simple, but it’s become one of our favorite rituals.

To be able to bring a version of that to Nashville feels incredibly meaningful to us. Not just as a place to eat, but as something we hope becomes part of people’s lives. A reason to slow down. To return as the seasons change. To let Cheekwood unfold in a different way each time you visit.

So when the opportunity came to open a café within Cheekwood, it felt less like a business decision and more like something coming full circle.

We’re opening Perenn at Cheekwood

located in the Frist Learning Center courtyard. It will be a full cafe with our signature pastries, breads, coffee, and a seasonal menu designed to feel light, fresh, and in rhythm with the gardens around it.

A place to sit for a minute. Or an hour.
A place for a croissant and coffee after a walk.
Or something simple before heading back out into the gardens with your kids.

We’ve always believed that where you eat matters just as much as what you eat. This is exactly the kind of place that belief was built for.

On a slightly more important note (at least to Tyler), we’re hopeful this brings him one step closer to meeting Monty Don if he ever makes his way to the U.S. for a garden tour.

Tyler has watched an unreasonable amount of Gardeners’ World. If Monty ends up at Cheekwood and leaves without having a croissant, we will consider that a personal failure.

We’ll be opening May 1, and we’re incredibly excited to become a small part of a place that meant something to us long before this was ever a possibility.

And as we build this team, we’re hiring.

If you want to be part of this next chapter with us, you can learn more here.

We can’t wait to see you at Cheekwood.

Lots of Love,

Aubrey & Tyler

I recently saw a viral video of a bakery owner asking employees how much certain equipment costs and found it extremely amusing to hear the responses. I thought it be fun to do a guessing game here. This vaguely reminds me an old video where I think Bill Gates was asked how much a load of bread cost. This exercise is pointed in the opposite direction. Can you honestly guess the price of these everyday restaurant items? I’ll include the prices at the end of the post.

Anyways, to cope with the ups and downs of life we have been hanging on to any ounce of our recent vacation we can and in true spirt that means replicating the best and most memorable food be had.

On this vacation ( an actual vacation aka no kids, a trip is with kids) we had the pleasure of making acquaintances with some of the hotels core staff local to the island. They had to be some of the most naturally hospitable humans I have ever meet. We spent a good amount of time chatting with them and this lead to trying to find an inside scoop on where the good food was. We stayed at Soho House and loved it, but we were looking for some authentic Caribbean digs. Semi jokingly, the answer was almost always “My house” or “My Moms”. It may haven been the Picante Margaritas or our overall relaxation but we laid it on them and said when can we get some? With out a second delay Cedric, the bartender, was gone and on a mission. Granted this island is literally only 3 miles long with a population of roughly 1000 so he wasnt gone long. Curtis asks another staff to cover the bar and in about 15 minutes returned with two plates for Aubrey and I.

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Typically, our vacations look a certain way. They revolve around food. A lot of food. Walking as much as possible. Exploring everything. Saying yes to every meal, every bakery, every “we should try this place...” We come home full, inspired, and usually a little tired.

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How did Perenn end up in Reno?
And now… Tennessee?

The answer is less of a strategic master plan and more a long series of small moments, gut feelings, and a few very lucky turns.

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Highlights from the year

• Openings & growth: We expanded across states , Perenn Franklin and Perenn Berry Hill opened in Tennessee, Perenn at the Nevada Museum of Art launched, and we’re preparing Perenn Grocery in Wedgewood‑Houston (WeHo) for summer 2026.

• Community: We are just beginning to peak our heads up and there is so much more for us to learn and see in Tennessee and we have been really luck many of community in Nevada have made the journey out to see the new location in Tennessee.

• Systems, Teaching, Learning, Developing: From new menu items, new team, continued education, and development of new skills this year has been a huge step forward in so many ways. The added support from new team members and the continued collaboration with veteran staff has brought us all to a new level.

• Real moments: There we undoubtedly some lows. We’ll carry some scars that will be with us forever but we have learned not to repeat a few things which is often more important than a win.

• What mattered most: Our family is tighter than its ever been. Not only did we grow professionally but I think we grew as parents and spouses. The team has also grown to 160 people which is absolutely wild. Doubled the size of the company. Overall the support we have received via guests and the new faces we have gotten to know has been assuredly positive. It has been very affirming.

What we learned

• Authenticity matters more. In a recent post we discussed the importance of the human element and including imperfection is just as important.

• Trust in ourselves. There was absolutely a part of us that doubted if we should or should not have done this. Especially during some of the low parts. Thank god Tennessee’s winter is short and we are able to get outside and touch grass. It makes a huge difference.

What’s next

• More of the same and some new. The grocery will be the next big leap. Additional hiring/training, a new construction project, lots of systems to build out and create. We still have so much we feel like we can learn and create.

What we have our eyes on

• Milling. It will be interesting to see how this years regional wheat production comes on board. There are a lot of new growers in the area that have been setting up their processes over 2025 and we are looking forward to utilizing more in our bread program.

• Curation. Discovering new makers, producers, and creating the relationships is going to be a big part of 2026. We’re hopeful to begin rolling our more Perenn exclusives with the grocery and will be releasing more inside knowledge as they develop.

Thank you for reading, replying, coming by the shops, and sharing this with friends.

Let us know what you want to see over the next year and at the grocery! We are deep in R&D and have some designated sourcing trips coming up so your feedback is greatly appreciated.

With gratitude,
Aubrey & Tyler

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We don’t know your name yet, but we have a pretty good sense of how you work.

You care deeply about what you do. You notice the details others might miss. You believe that consistency is not about rigidity, but about respect for the work and the people doing it.

As Perenn has grown across states and kitchens, we have been reflecting on what it means to grow responsibly. We want to protect the quality of our bread and pastry program, support our production teams, and build systems that allow the work to remain thoughtful and human, even at scale.

That’s why we’re opening a Director of Pastry & Bread role.

This role is for someone who wants to lead with both hands and heart. Someone who can hold the creative vision for our bread and pastry programs while also building the production structure that supports our teams day in and day out. You would work closely with us, mentor production leaders, and help create alignment and consistency across locations.

We’re not looking for perfection. We’re looking for care, humility, and a deep respect for people and process. We’re moving slowly because we want this to feel like a long-term partnership, not just a hire.

This person will need to be based in the greater Nashville, Tennessee area.

If this sounds like you, or like someone you know, we would love to start a conversation.

Here is a link to read more about this position and what qualifications we are looking for.

Looking forward to meeting you,

Aubrey & Tyler

Everything moves slowly.

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It would be a lie if we said that not seeing our name on a list like that didn’t sting. Not just a little. But in that quiet, heavy way you feel it settle at the bottom of your stomach and sit there longer than you want it to.

We have been working diligently to focus on what we set out to do. To create spaces, not only for the employees who work alongside us, but for our customers too. Spaces where people feel cared for through food, through design, through hospitality.

We have tried, very intentionally, to pause the noise. The ups and downs. The economy. The rising costs. The distractions. The punches to the face, quite honestly. The negative reviews mixed in with the positive ones. We’ve tried to keep our heads down and our hands in the work.

And we’ve tried to do all of this while also focusing on our children and being the best parents we can be.

If we are being completely honest, sometimes we wonder. If we didn’t have four kids. If we didn’t try so hard to balance. If we poured every ounce of ourselves into the business and nothing else, would we be more visible? Would we be on those lists? Should we be?

Don’t get us wrong. We don’t find all of our validation in a list or a “best of” or a publication. The kindness and the encouragement and the loyalty from our customers fuels us deeply. We never want to downplay that. It matters more than we can properly put into words.

But it is also true that being seen by your peers in your own industry is a different kind of validation. When you’re in the thick of hard seasons, when you’re not sure if you’re on the right track, when it’s just the two of you carrying the weight of ten years of building, an outside voice can help steady you. It can help you believe, even for a moment, that you’re not completely missing the mark.

And then there’s the other feeling.

The frustration.

The part of you that doesn’t want to feel like you have to become buddy-buddy, shake the right hands, follow the right credentials, or play a certain game just to be seen. That doesn’t feel authentic to us. That doesn’t feel like where our energy should go.

We want our energy to go into our ethos. Into the work itself.

Now that we’re in a bigger city. Now that we’re making bigger risks. Bigger bets. Bigger leaps. These questions get louder. What is the thing that validates you? What is the thing that tells you, “Yes, you made the right decision. Yes, you’re on the right path.”

If one day we ended up on a list like this, would it actually quiet that voice? Or would it just make it louder? Would it make you feel like you have to push even harder, chase even more, drift further from the reason you started in the first place?

Today, with this list coming out, it felt important to say this out loud. Because we know we aren’t the only ones.

There are probably thousands of people who worked incredibly hard this year, who poured themselves into their restaurants, their bakeries, their teams, their craft, and didn’t see their name today either. And maybe they’re feeling that same mix of disappointment, doubt, and quiet sadness. Maybe they don’t want to say it publicly. Maybe they’re just carrying it alone.

If that’s you, we want you to know you’re not alone. We see you. We feel it too. Consider this a virtual hug from our kitchen to yours.

At the end of the day, we will always come back to what matters most. Our marriage. Our family. Our children. Our employees. The customers who walk through our doors and choose to support what we’re building.

We will keep going. We will keep honing our craft.

We believe deeply in what we’re becoming. In rethinking what a modern grocer can look like. In milling our own grain. In creating better systems of care for our team. In continued education. In sustainability. In building something that feels rooted and meaningful in an industry that often feels anything but.

And sometimes, when the tears stop falling and the sting starts to fade, you realize something else.

It makes you want to be better.

Maybe not making the list today is actually an invitation. A reason to reflect. A reason to refine. A reason to recommit to why we started in the first place.

So that’s what we’ll do.

And for now, that’s enough.

Lots of Love,

Aubrey & Tyler

P.s. sending a huge congratulations to those that did make the list today. Honored to work alongside you all.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how we tell our story.

Not just what we say, but the way it’s said. Who says it. And whether it still feels like us by the time it reaches someone else.

We live in a world right now where it’s genuinely hard to know what to trust. Headlines are optimized for clicks. (Don’t even get me started about the news) Keywords matter more than thoughtful sentences. Speed often wins over depth. Somewhere along the way, nuance gets flattened. I think that’s why authenticity feels so fragile.

We recently made the decision…

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When we reflect on our actual 2025, it’s a blur. A wild year. And almost every three days, we look at each other and say “We did it. We moved to Tennessee. We live here now”.

Let’s review 2025 month by month with the highlights and maybe even some low lights…

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People are gathering. Shopping. Catching up.
They want warm pastries and cookie boxes and cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning.
We are doing gift cards, catering trays, teacher gifts, office gifts, meal packages, all of it.And we are genuinely grateful. Truly. December keeps so many small businesses alive.

But there is another reality that does not get talked about enough….

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There are some real positives that come from the push. We are definitely not bah humbug of the holidays around here. We get/have to be a lot more present in physical roles which is usually good in many ways. Plus, there is no better way to test and refine systems better than when at our busiest. Optimizing flow and figuring out the logistics of how to get it all done is actually a fun part of the game.

This week we have largely been at our Berry Hill production location working along side the bread and pastry teams. Rolling croissants, shaping, mixing, and baking bread. It has actually been energizing for the most part. It is a reality that we don’t often get to do the parts of the business we like the most, but we are strategizing to change that in 2026. Everything is a balancing act as a business owner. If you are focusing on one area you are letting another slip slightly. Juggling it all is never a seamless act and requires a lot of internal synchronization within teams.

BUT the bread has been beautiful and there is a real feeling of excitement within the teams. Reno’d bread and pastry team continue to crank out beautiful product and there a great rapport between the teams supporting one another from afar.

January will bring some additional cohesion as our team flip flop back and forth. We’ll have the Reno production lead visiting Nashville production and the Tn executive sous making the trip to Reno for the first time. All in an effort to create consistencies and unity across the board.

Reno Baguette

TN Baguette

We’ll have several new items on the shelves for Christmas. Chocolate Peppermint Pain Suisse, Ginger slice loaf, Stollen and more.

All in all exciting times. Im writing this on my lap top on the dough sheeter and we need to roll our Ham and Swiss Croissants so ill leave it at that. Happy Holidays and if you see us at any of the locations stop and say hello!