Published January 2002

Bakery’s sweet treats
keep ’em coming back

By Kimberly Hilden
Herald Business Journal Assistant Editor

While rolling out snicker doodles and candy-cane sugar cookies one December morning, Judith Bacon spelled out her philosophy on competition:

“Competition is just a way of life, and all you can do is just the best you can, and hopefully, that will get you through,” said the owner of Karl’s Bakery and Coffee Shoppe, a fixture in downtown Everett for more than 50 years.

Bacon wasn’t around for all of that; she bought the operation in 1979 from a couple who had bought it from Karl himself.

Still, she has been around long enough to experience the ebb-and-flow of the bakery business that comes when businesses and people move in and out of the vicinity.

There was the time GTE was in the midst of building a new facility on 41st Street in 1979 and had moved its employees into the Wall Street Building, Bacon recalled. Those extra people — with bellies craving doughnuts, cookies and muffins — were good for business. So were the years when Henry Cogswell College’s Everett headquarters were right next door to the bakery, which is located at 2814 Wetmore Ave.

But then they bought a building on Colby Avenue, and “they were gone,” she said.

“People move in and people move out,” she said, continuing to roll and cut the cookie dough, but business on the whole has been healthy through the years, and the bakery’s services have grown to include breakfast and lunch catering.

In the past, clients have included the Snohomish County PUD, Providence Hospice and Weyerhaeuser, Bacon said, adding that the bakery’s custom-decorated cakes have graced celebrations at Boeing, Fluke and GTE and made summertime, with its weddings and graduations, a busy time of year.

About 10 years ago, Bacon had a grill installed, allowing the bakery to expand its offerings to include pancakes, eggs, hash browns, hamburgers, fish and chips, and the like to go along with its array of pastries, cookies and sweets.

Preparing those baked goodies so they’re ready when the doors open at 6 a.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. on Saturdays takes some doing, though. So Bacon and the other bakers arrive at Karl’s at 1 a.m., put on the coffee pot, grab a couple of cookies and check the customer orders.

Then it’s time to bake and bake and bake some more until the shift is over, usually 9:30 to 10 a.m. “if we have a regular day,” said Bacon, whose husband, Earl, handles the bakery’s monthly books.

Others at the bakery start their shifts later to work the grill, the espresso bar and the service counter until the doors close in the late afternoon.

In a world of microwavable waffles and heat-and-serve cookies, Bacon and her staff of 10 remain committed to making “everything from scratch,” including rich pastries, baklava and even the German chocolate frosting for the doughnuts. Such dedication has attracted a mix of customers.

On any given weekday morning, there are teenagers grabbing a snack before hitting the books, blue- and white-collar workers enjoying a cup of joe with their jelly-filled doughnut and seniors meeting up for some conversation and cinnamon rolls.

“We just have a pretty good mix,” Bacon said, looking up from her work. “Those that have found us usually will come back.”

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