Server Elishia Stefanowski of Pioneer Bakery has a full restaurant on Saturday during Meeker Days. (Photo: Colleen Carroll)Puyallup’s bakeries offer sweet treats, a cozy corner and a happy atmosphere
June 27th, 2008
Joan Cronk
for The Herald (Puyallup, Washington State, USA)
Sey-Po and Coye Ung arrived in Akron, Ohio 28, years ago from Cambodia, and after 13 years in Akron, they had an opportunity to come to Puyallup and buy a donut shop. “We wrapped up everything and moved 2600 miles from Ohio to Puyallup,” said Sey-Po, who moved here with his wife and three children to run Happy Donuts.
“We felt happy and so we named it Happy Donuts,” Ung said. “We make a very good living out of it. We put three kids through college.”
Happy Donuts is a cozy spot. As you pull into the parking lot, geraniums spill out of window boxes to greet you. Inside the business, retirees, moms with kids and folks on their way to work drink coffee and eat donuts the size of dinner plates.
The selection of donuts is endless. Ung said he learned how to make donuts from his supplier when he first bought the business. Now he employs a baker who comes in at midnight and Ung and his wife start at 3 a.m., working until about 9 or 10 in the morning.
They have a regular crew that enjoys their jobs and feel like family. Ung exhibits a real sense of responsibility for his employees.
Julie Brusseau, who has worked at Happy Donuts for 12 years, is one of those employees.
“The Ungs are amazing people,” she said. “They are another set of parents to me.”
Brusseau began working at Happy Donuts when she was in high school and the Ungs have helped her emotionally and financially throughout the years. She is married now, has three children and works as an ER tech at night. She still works for the Ungs though, saying it is a fun place to be because people are always happy.
“People who come into the ER aren’t usually happy,” she said.
Right down the street on Meridian sits Pioneer Bakery. The bakery, which is a true scratch bakery, has been a staple in downtown Puyallup, having started in business in 1926.
Jake and Patti Bostwick, who are lifetime Puyallup residents, bought the business three years ago. Patti was working as an accountant and looking for something new to capture her interest. She found she had a real passion for the bakery business. She worked with the previous owners for a few months to learn all the ins and outs of running a bakery and hit the ground running. She hasn’t stopped since.
Four of the Bostwicks’ seven children are working at the business, in addition to Clare Taylor, whom they call Grandma Clare.
Taylor started in the baking business 50 years ago when she went to work at Frederick and Nelson, helping in the Frango Mint department. She retired once, and after five years grew tired of that lifestyle, saw Patti’s sign in the window and applied for the job.
Taylor, who works five days a week, eight hours a day, said she “loves the customers. Everyone is different.” In addition to waiting on customers, she makes the soups and salads for lunch.
“The family is good to work for,” she said. “They make you part of the family.”
Pioneer Bakery is a full service bakery, making special order cakes and wedding cakes, all of which Patti decorates. Custom shaped cakes have become popular; some are shaped like guitars, skateboards or dragons. They do them all.
The restaurant is warm and comfortable, with brightly colored tablecloths welcoming the customers, soup bubbling in the back room and cookies the size of Texas.
Pioneer Bakery has a booth this year at the Farmers’ Market, run by the kids and their dad Jake, who Patti says is “quality control. He samples everything.”
The Safeway store on Meridian also has a bakery, and Barb Heins is department manager there. She said their bakery is also a full service bakery.
“We still take pride in making our own breads fresh,” she said, on a day they were busy getting ready for graduation and Father’s Day with cakes lined up as neatly as buttons, waiting to be picked up.
Heins has worked at the Safeway bakery for 15 years and said they are busy all the time. They have a very close relationship with their customers and worry if they don’t see them for a while.
Heins arrives daily at 4 a.m. and even when she isn’t at work baking, she is baking at home.
Wendy Wilkins is the cake decorator on staff. Her aunt bought her a cake decorating kit when she was in the 5th grade and Wilkins discovered she had a real talent for the art of cake decorating.
Wilkins said she loves being creative and especially working with the customers.
The Safeway Bakery has been there since the ‘60s and is still going strong, with customers coming in so often that many are on a first name basis.
All three bakeries have the family feel and a real sense of unity.
Sey-Po summed it up by saying, “My employees help me out and I help them out. We are a team. We make Happy Donuts to be a successful business.”
Reach freelance reporter Joan Cronk by e-mail at editor@puyallupherald.com
June 27th, 2008
Joan Cronk
for The Herald (Puyallup, Washington State, USA)
Sey-Po and Coye Ung arrived in Akron, Ohio 28, years ago from Cambodia, and after 13 years in Akron, they had an opportunity to come to Puyallup and buy a donut shop. “We wrapped up everything and moved 2600 miles from Ohio to Puyallup,” said Sey-Po, who moved here with his wife and three children to run Happy Donuts.
“We felt happy and so we named it Happy Donuts,” Ung said. “We make a very good living out of it. We put three kids through college.”
Happy Donuts is a cozy spot. As you pull into the parking lot, geraniums spill out of window boxes to greet you. Inside the business, retirees, moms with kids and folks on their way to work drink coffee and eat donuts the size of dinner plates.
The selection of donuts is endless. Ung said he learned how to make donuts from his supplier when he first bought the business. Now he employs a baker who comes in at midnight and Ung and his wife start at 3 a.m., working until about 9 or 10 in the morning.
They have a regular crew that enjoys their jobs and feel like family. Ung exhibits a real sense of responsibility for his employees.
Julie Brusseau, who has worked at Happy Donuts for 12 years, is one of those employees.
“The Ungs are amazing people,” she said. “They are another set of parents to me.”
Brusseau began working at Happy Donuts when she was in high school and the Ungs have helped her emotionally and financially throughout the years. She is married now, has three children and works as an ER tech at night. She still works for the Ungs though, saying it is a fun place to be because people are always happy.
“People who come into the ER aren’t usually happy,” she said.
Right down the street on Meridian sits Pioneer Bakery. The bakery, which is a true scratch bakery, has been a staple in downtown Puyallup, having started in business in 1926.
Jake and Patti Bostwick, who are lifetime Puyallup residents, bought the business three years ago. Patti was working as an accountant and looking for something new to capture her interest. She found she had a real passion for the bakery business. She worked with the previous owners for a few months to learn all the ins and outs of running a bakery and hit the ground running. She hasn’t stopped since.
Four of the Bostwicks’ seven children are working at the business, in addition to Clare Taylor, whom they call Grandma Clare.
Taylor started in the baking business 50 years ago when she went to work at Frederick and Nelson, helping in the Frango Mint department. She retired once, and after five years grew tired of that lifestyle, saw Patti’s sign in the window and applied for the job.
Taylor, who works five days a week, eight hours a day, said she “loves the customers. Everyone is different.” In addition to waiting on customers, she makes the soups and salads for lunch.
“The family is good to work for,” she said. “They make you part of the family.”
Pioneer Bakery is a full service bakery, making special order cakes and wedding cakes, all of which Patti decorates. Custom shaped cakes have become popular; some are shaped like guitars, skateboards or dragons. They do them all.
The restaurant is warm and comfortable, with brightly colored tablecloths welcoming the customers, soup bubbling in the back room and cookies the size of Texas.
Pioneer Bakery has a booth this year at the Farmers’ Market, run by the kids and their dad Jake, who Patti says is “quality control. He samples everything.”
The Safeway store on Meridian also has a bakery, and Barb Heins is department manager there. She said their bakery is also a full service bakery.
“We still take pride in making our own breads fresh,” she said, on a day they were busy getting ready for graduation and Father’s Day with cakes lined up as neatly as buttons, waiting to be picked up.
Heins has worked at the Safeway bakery for 15 years and said they are busy all the time. They have a very close relationship with their customers and worry if they don’t see them for a while.
Heins arrives daily at 4 a.m. and even when she isn’t at work baking, she is baking at home.
Wendy Wilkins is the cake decorator on staff. Her aunt bought her a cake decorating kit when she was in the 5th grade and Wilkins discovered she had a real talent for the art of cake decorating.
Wilkins said she loves being creative and especially working with the customers.
The Safeway Bakery has been there since the ‘60s and is still going strong, with customers coming in so often that many are on a first name basis.
All three bakeries have the family feel and a real sense of unity.
Sey-Po summed it up by saying, “My employees help me out and I help them out. We are a team. We make Happy Donuts to be a successful business.”
Reach freelance reporter Joan Cronk by e-mail at editor@puyallupherald.com
1 comment:
Wonderful indeed. Good luck to all three bakeries in town. Like to have a chocolate bavarian filled long john though. Have any?
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