Jodie’s Cafe and Bakery, a cafe in Wiscasset that paid homage to the owner’s Southern roots, is permanently closed. Owner Jodie Roquemore announced the closure in a July 5 Facebook post.
“Closing Jodie’s Cafe and Bakery wasn’t simply closing a business. It felt like giving up a part of myself,” Roquemore said in the post. “This restaurant has been my heart, my dream, my stress, my pride, and my home for the last several years. Making the decision to let it go has honestly been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”
Jodie’s first opened at 277 Bath Road in Wiscasset in May 2022. Roquemore, who came from central Georgia, had planned to open a cafe and bakery since the age of 10.
The cafe changed locations in 2022, moving into the former Sarah’s Cafe, at 45 Water St.
Its menu offered burgers, sandwiches, and entrees, including Southern staples such as grits and gumbo. It was open for lunch and dinner, with a brunch on Sundays, and also offered an assortment of baked goods.
The cafe first closed in May, which Roquemore believed was only temporary. As time passed, however, she had to “face the reality” that reopening was not going to happen, she said in the post.
Roquemore thanked the people who had frequented the cafe, who she said “kept us going.”
“We celebrated milestones with you, watched your children grow, laughed with you, cried with you, and built friendships that I’ll always treasure. You were never ‘just customers.’ You became part of our story, part of our family,” Roquemore said.
Roquemore also said that the difficulties of small businesses mean that while every visit mattered, so did the ones that never happened.
“Small businesses don’t survive on good intentions — they survive because people choose to walk through the door,” Roquemore said. “So if you’ve been meaning to stop in for the last three years … well … this is your reminder not to wait so long to support the next local business you love. We all assume our favorite little places will always be there — until one day they aren’t.”
The Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce, which awarded Jodie’s Cafe and Bakery the Growth and Development award in 2025, wished Roquemore and her team “all the best in their future pursuits.” They also encouraged people to patronize local businesses.
Roquemore said she was proud of the cafe and the team. In the Facebook post, she said she is unsure of what comes next, but that she was “grateful that this chapter happened at all.