Kelowna bakery featured on Food Network closing for good
It was the perfect storm for Whisk Bakery + Cafe.
A combination of personal issues, the rising costs of items due to inflation and issues with finding and retaining staff means the bakery will be closing its doors July 30 for good, said owner Tanya Garrett.
The building where the company is housed also recently sold, she said.
The bakery has been located at its current location at 203 Rutland Rd North for the past 11 years and has been in Kelowna for 15. While struggling amid the pandemic, the bakery received a full renovation as part of Project Bakeover on Food Network Canada.
“It’s getting to the point where we wouldn’t be able to make it. It’s basically the perfect storm of everything... coming together. It’s not something we want to do willingly, it’s more before I bankrupt myself,” she said.
Known for her creative cakes, Garrett said she’s not going to say she’ll never return to the industry but she is also feeling drained after the last three years.
“Being a small business, making it through COVID, we were so happy and just this year has been horrible for prices and raw ingredients and increases in wages… and the problem with trying to find staff,” she said.
“It sucks because I’ve been doing this for 15 years.”
Her time after the bakery's closure will be focused on her four-year-old as the early 4 a.m. shifts as a baker weren’t feasible for her toddler.
“I really have no idea what I’m going to do next… I’m hoping I’ll be able to sell enough equipment that I’ll have a few months to lick my wounds and figure out what I’m going to do,” she said.
Garrett said she refused to sell her business and recipes after taking so many years to create them.
So far, she's seen an outpouring of support from the community wishing her well.
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