Meet the Sandbergs, a husband and wife each operating their own business in Lafayette

Two entrepreneurs with separate businesses, Rob and Mia Sandberg spoke with Jan Swift of the Discover Lafayette podcast about how their operations have grown in recent years.

You can listen to their conversation here.

Mia Sandberg has Root Floral, 810 Jefferson St., that specializes in providing floral arrangements for events, weddings and everyday flowers.

Rob Sandberg owns Lucia, 607 Kaliste Saloom Road, that began as a small batch, from-scratch bakery that began doing popups that now concentrates on viennoise-style baking, a form of pastry made famous in France with origins in Vienna.

Mia graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2008 and then took various jobs in product design and interior design in Dallas. She also was a waitress as Toulouse, the same restaurant Rob worked as a pastry chef.

When the couple moved back to Lafayette in 2012, Rob was the one who suggested she open a flower shop. She began creating and sharing her creations inside of a small portable storage building at her parent’s house in Cecilia.

For a year she was “sending arrangements to as many businesses as I could,” she said. Within a year, she outgrew that location and moved to downtown Lafayette.

Lucía opened in 2021. Rob began in the bakery business by doing popups and later selling pastries at the Moncus Park farmer’s market where his brother, Ruben, came on board. Lucía sold out each Saturday for about two years before Lucia opened, and in the early days the Sandbergs converted their sunroom into a bakery where for frying donuts and making custards.

Lucía offers Viennese style pastries, croissants, Danishes, Bomboloni, lemon tarts and more.