West Palm Beach’s popular café and bakery, aioli, is celebrating its 10th anniversary, celebrating a decade of helping to make the South Dixie corridor a culinary destination.
aioli opened in Fall, 2014 as a casual sandwich shop and juice bar serving an inventive breakfast and lunch menu with a focus on local, a concept that to this day is dear to owner/operators Michael and Melanie Hackman. With menu items such as home-baked blueberry-molasses muffins, chocolate-glazed scones, frittatas, and quiches, roast beef and caramelized onion with cheese and horseradish panini, roast pear and gorgonzola salad, plus soups, fresh-pressed juices, specialty coffees and teas, aioli was soon the community’s go-to for savory delights and sinful sweets.
In 2015 aioli expanded to include a scratch bakery for Chef Hackman’s artisan bread production. His signature loaves of rustic bread have become legendary among aioli’s clientele and local chefs, and can be found on restaurant menus throughout the county. As aioli’s following grew so did the volume of bread and pastry production, and in 2023 the Hackmans shifted the production of breads and savory items over to their second concept, pizzaioli, freeing up aioli to maximize its production of sweets and menu items served daily.
From day one, aioli has been a family business which the Hackmans attribute as one component of their success, along with building a strong team they call a “second” family.
“When Melanie and I envisioned our dream of owning a restaurant, we wanted a small café and sandwich shop that we could walk to, something that we were looking for in our neighborhood, around our house,” said Chef Hackman. “That was our inspiration, to have a breakfast and lunch concept where we could see the kids and enjoy our family while serving our community.”
“A progression of achievement, creativity, and a strong connection with our community have been the cornerstones of our ongoing success. And getting to where we are today with my family is what I am most proud of. From day one, we were and continue to be committed to building our clientele one person at a time. We maintain high expectations within our team on every level and lead by example. When our clients come in, we say hello, we are kind, we serve them delicious food and we thank them.”
Photo: Chef Michael Hackman (aioli)