KALAMAZOO, Mich. — The paint isn’t dry yet, and the entrance isn’t accessible yet. However, Judy Sarkozy’s vision is coming together for the second time.
The Sarkozy Bakery will reopen very soon thanks to lots of community support.
“From most of the front, [customers] will be able to see them making the pizzas. People love it when you drop one,” Sarkozy chuckled.
She hasn’t lost her sense of sense of humor, since a fire destroyed her first business nearly two years ago.
FOX 17 was there as community members consoled her. It’s still tough for Sarkozy to talk about.
“It was 34 years to the day of when we opened. We opened on a Saturday, February 25th, and the fire happened on Saturday, February 25th,” Sarkozy recalled.
It’s an eerie coincidence that to this day no one knows how the fire started. The building was so badly damaged, fire inspectors findings were inconclusive. But that’s history, and the business is now rising from the ashes. It’s in a new home at Columbia Plaza, on the corner of Michigan and Pitcher Street, in Downtown Kalamazoo.
Co-owner Nate Haroldson demonstrated how the new and improve bread-loader works. “It deposits all the bread into the oven at one time into the oven, in one swipe like that. So you’ve got 30 loaves or however many it can fit in there at one time,” he explained.
He said the new bread-loader “is a lot better because before, in the old bakery, we would load [with a peel] with a long handle on it.”
He said the enhanced bread-loader is one of many new features for the bakery. Many changes are technology-related and lead to better efficiencies.
Other changes purely improve the customer’s experience.
Haroldson said once customers get to the counter they’ll “be able to sit down right here on a nice stool and basically get like a front row show of what’s going on.”
The clock is ticking, and the owners have had to push the opening back a bit. This time late January to early February are the target dates.
“I can’t go to the store without somebody saying, ya know, ‘when you gonna open? When you gonna open?’ And also saying, ‘we’ve missed it so much,'” she explained.
The business’s Facebook page helps keep customers and fans informed of their progress. There is much anticipation.
“There’s a lot of, a lot of pressure right now, to get this things right,” Sarkozy said.
She added, “I have a great staff.”
