Bakery franchise Our Kitchen Is Your Kitchen hopes to score more business with the advent of a new movie theater in Barkley Village in fall 2012.
Tucked in the midst of the financial buildings on the north side of Barkley Boulevard in Barkley Village is a mom and pop bakery and coffee shop called Our Kitchen Is Your Kitchen. They advertise as a place where you can do all the fun baking you would do at home without the mess and having to buy all the baking supplies.
Terri Zweber opened Our Kitchen Is Your Kitchen in June 2008. She chose to open the bakery in Barkley Village because it was a high traffic area, situated next to the Barkley branch of the Bellingham Public Library.
“Being next to the library was a really good way to get the parents and families in here,” Zweber said.
The location, while initially a prime place for pedestrians to drop in, is no longer beneficial since many business spaces on the north side of Barkley Boulevard are now empty.
“We’re a little bit hidden so a lot of people come in and say ‘we never even noticed this was here,’” said employee Monica Cribbs.
The new 16-screen Regal Cinema being built in Barkley Village scheduled to open in fall 2012 is likely to bring more traffic to the area. Zweber plans to market her business at the theater to bring in more foot traffic.
Now the bakery’s most common customers come through the library, work at one of the surrounding offices or are repeat customers for custom orders or parties.
The baking studio for parties and classes is the main focus of Our Kitchen Is Your Kitchen. The coffee shop is an addition for extra business.
Zweber said Our Kitchen Is Your Kitchen is the only baking studio of the kind in Bellingham. There are other baking classes available but Our Kitchen Is Your Kitchen provides all the supplies and ingredients while other classes may require students to buy their own supplies.
Cribbs, who started working at Our Kitchen Is Your Kitchen in August, teaches cookie and cupcake classes for kids. Zweber teaches the adult baking series and cake decorating classes on most Saturdays.
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Our Kitchen Is Your Kitchen provides a variety of decorating materials for all types of baking endeavors.
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Saturday, Jan. 27 they are beginning their Mardi Gras cake classes. People who take the four-week series will leave with a tiered cake complete with pastillage and fondant decorations and buttercream frosting.
Our Kitchen Is Your Kitchen receives custom orders for weddings and birthdays. In 2011 the bakery tripled the number of wedding cake orders from 2010. Zweber said they are currently creating three different cakes for one birthday because the guests have so many allergies.
Our Kitchen Is Your Kitchen also hosts parties and creates made to order cakes and other baked goods for events and other restaurants. Cribb’s daughter had a birthday party with a few friends on New Years Eve. They supply Majestic Inn in Anacortes with scones and Babe’s Place in Ferndale with cinnamon rolls.
One inhibitor for business at Our Kitchen Is Your Kitchen is its name.
“They think it’s a rental kitchen,” Norbert Zalabai, Zweber’s husband and business partner, said.
Employees from the surrounding commercial buildings still come in daily to get their coffee and pastry fix.
Renee Showalter, who works at Sterling Insurance, is a regular because it’s located conveniently near her work.
Regular customers say part of the reason they continue returning is the quality of coffee. Our Kitchen Is Your Kitchen uses Batdorf and Bronson coffee, which is roasted in Olympia.
“It’s the best coffee around,” customer Julie Straight said.
People enjoy going to Our Kitchen Is Your Kitchen because of its quiet, calm environment.
John Forgette goes about four times a week. “This is my favorite coffee house,” he said. “Two reasons: One, the library’s right there and I can pick up the paper. Two, it’s quiet and you can always find a seat.”
The connection to the Barkley branch of the Bellingham Public Library provides patrons who want to use Wi-Fi with free Internet available in the library.
Our Kitchen Is Your Kitchen is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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| Terri Zweber tests the consistency of cookies that will be used for a children's Valentine cookie decorating class scheduled for Friday, Feb. 3. |
