FARMVILLE — A beloved café has closed its doors, but its chef and owner said she will always treasure the Pitt County town as she begins a new chapter in retirement.
Coleen Starling, owner and chef at Café Madeleine Bakery and Wine in downtown Farmville, announced July 10 over social media that the restaurant was shutting its doors.
“Café Madeleine has given me the opportunity to fulfill a personal dream,” Starling said recently. “It has given me the opportunity to develop my baking to a higher level. It has enabled me to combine my personal ministry of feeding the community and gathering people together for a meal or a cup of coffee, glass of wine or whatever, to build community and to nurture body, mind and spirit in a nice ambience with customer service that is warm and friendly, I hope.”
Starling said she put her heart and soul into the food and loved when customers came in the door, looked at the pastry case and their faces lit up.
The bakery opened in August 2019 after Starling, a Kansas native, moved to eastern North Carolina alongside her husband, Berry. At the time her thoughts were on retirement. Now, after nearly five years and countless pastries, loaves, sandwiches and treats, those thoughts have come to fruition. Last week, the pastry case sat empty.
“The reason we’re moving on, I have other opportunities,” Starling said. “I would like to focus on my family. I have four grandchildren, and I would like to spend time with them before they get too old to not be interested in spending time with Nana and Papa. We want to really work on our home, and we want to build a bigger garden in our yard.”
Starling said she has four cats and a dog that she wants to spend time with. She also wants to travel, having never visited a museum in Washington, D.C., or historic sites such as Williamsburg, Va., and Mount Vernon, Va. She wants to visit Europe, too.
“I am looking forward to passing on the legacy of Café Madeleine to the community,” Starling said. “I do not know what kind of business would go in here, but I wish them all the best, and I hope that they understand what a precious thing it is to be in this town and to serve these people. Some of these people have been here for generations and their lives are in this town. That is a precious legacy to pass on.”
Starling said every community should have a bakery. She credits movements like sourdough out west and farm-to-table restaurants nationwide with customers’ appreciation for quality, handmade food with a personal touch. She wanted to draw people to Farmville to shop, eat and enjoy a community that people have worked hard to establish. Some of those customers even moved to town, she said.
The bakery benefitted from the strong relationships among downtown businesses, Starling added. That feeling was mutual with Hunter Walters, president of Farmville Furniture, who frequented the café. The business has stood for 119 years.
“It has been a great asset to have (Starling) here because she draws people from out of town, and it’s also nice to have a great place, especially on Saturdays, for customers to go to lunch,” Walters said. “I loved her food. Her ganache brownies were fantastic.”
Walters also raved about the spinach quiche.
“When someone comes here from out of town, I try to (tell them) go by Café Madeleine or go by Rusty Rails, a new kind of consignment shop,” Walters said. “We’ll miss her and hope that the void is filled soon.”
Millissa Alexander, executive director of the Farmville Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, said she does not begrudge anyone for taking time to enjoy their retirement. Saying goodbye to the bakery is hard, though, Alexander said, and brings up a lot of emotion in her and the community for their friend and restauranteur.
“I can tell you that most everyone in this community is probably on the verge of weeping,” Alexander said. “For us, Coleen’s place has been the place we have meetings, the place we bring our families. It has always the faithful place to go to when you want to splurge and enjoy the decadence of awesome food.”
Alexander said the cafe’s legacy is remarkable.
“If anyone wants to come in and fill their shoes, they have very big shoes to fill,” Alexander said.
While operating the restaurant, Starling also took time to share loaves of bread with homebound seniors through the First Christian Church of Farmville’s Meals on Wheels program. She said she hopes any next venture will allow her to continue to mix her love of baking with community service.
“That, to me, was the ultimate gift of my hands to people who needed it and might be shut in,” Starling said. “They don’t get to see many people, but that person delivers their meal and gives them that loaf of handmade bread, which might still be warm.”
For Starling, that meant the world.
“That has to mean something to people,” she added, “that they get that loaf of bread throughout their week to remind them that someone personally cares about them.”
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