Indian Rocks Beach community rallies behind French baker

INDIAN ROCKS BEACH — The French baker in this tiny beach town may be forced back to France because, well, he isn't selling enough croissants.

But this story isn't about the economy.

Xavier de Marchi, who owns the single storefront Cafe de Paris on Indian Rocks Beach's main road, had his business visa denied by U.S. Embassy officials in Paris late last month because his bakery wasn't big enough.

If nothing changes, de Marchi and his wife will have to close and sell the bakery and leave the country in less than 90 days.

"I want to extend my bakery. My business is going well," said de Marchi, 47. "How much money do they think we have to make?"

On Saturday, more than two dozen of de Marchi's friends and frequent customers gathered at the bakery, which has been serving croissants and Danish made from scratch since 2003.

The group, which is attempting to help the de Marchis, already has collected more than 200 petitions in hopes the U.S. government reverses its decision. De Marchi's friends also are calling local and federal politicians for help.

"Xavier is the type of immigrant this country was built on," said George Hernandez, a friend who lives in Lutz. "He isn't asking for a handout. He isn't asking for anything. He wants to work."

A spokesman for the Department of State, Darby Holladay, said the department does not comment on individual visa cases. But in general, business visas, or E-2 visas, are awarded to people who generate income beyond what is needed to make a living.

The business, according to the Department of State, "must have a significant economic impact in the United States." The department does not publish a specific financial threshold.

De Marchi said he sells between 200 and 400 croissants a week at $2 each, as well as pastries, breads and coffees. He also has catered for events at MacDill Air Force Base.

But customers say the tiny bakery has made contributions that cannot be measured simply by profit.

"This just isn't a bakery where people come and get their pastries and go," said Kathy Forde, of Clearwater. "It's a center of a community."

De Marchi and his wife flew to Paris last month to meet with U.S. Embassy officials about their visa. The meeting started 90 minutes late, they said, and lasted only 10 minutes. The couple's visa request was denied the same day, they said.

The couple has a 16-year-old son attending Seminole High School.

"There's nothing for us back in France," said de Marchi, who speaks with a thick French accent. "This is where we live. This is where we want to work."

There is precedence for the U.S. government to change its mind. Earlier this year, a French baker in New Hampshire was granted a visa after first being denied. The reversal followed an outpouring of public support.

The de Marchis, and their friends, hope a similar community effort here could produce an identical result.

A newspaper in de Marchi's hometown in southwest France wrote about the baker's plight Dec. 5.

The headline: "A French baker in the kneader in Florida."