In her new storefront in the Minden Village on Friday, Turia Seiger-Todd talked about the ups and downs of owning a small business.
"The paperwork and the bureaucracy are the hardest parts," she said, while helping food manager Terri Graeber unload a tray of pastries into a humming display case. "But it's exciting to have your own business."
Earlier this year, Seiger-Todd rented kitchen space from Cookie Girl in Minden, where she operated Grace & Ida's Custom Cookies. Named after her two entrepreneur-minded grandmothers, the business specialized in "cookies for all occasions." Although sales were fair, cookies couldn't contain Seiger-Todd's aspirations; she wanted her own storefront with a variety of baked goods, and breakfast and lunch items, too.
"Not everyone wants to eat cookies," she said. "Now we have salads and soups and sandwiches for lunch that open the door to more people, more tastes. Variety is the spice of life."
Thus "cookie" was dropped from the business moniker. Newly-named Grace & Ida's Bakery and Cafe, adjacent to 88 Cups, still offers cookies, but also scones, turnovers and cream puffs. Seiger-Todd said the most popular pastries are the cinnamon rolls made fresh every morning and the blackberry pies.
"Terri makes all the pies from scratch; she makes everything from hand," Seiger-Todd said. "I couldn't do this without her. She has 35 years experience in the food industry."
For those not in the mood for something sweet, Grace & Ida's has croissant breakfast sandwiches in the morning and a half-dozen sandwiches to choose from at lunch. The menu also boasts French-bread pizza, homemade chili and soup, and four different salads, with Asian chicken being the most popular. Homemade milkshakes, made with Tahoe Creamery ice cream, are also available.
"We can also do customer orders, if someone wants a favorite dish but doesn't want to make it themselves," Seiger-Todd said. "Or, if someone wants something for their office or for a meeting, they can call us the day before then swing by in the morning. That way, Terri can plan it, and we won't get cleaned out for the day."
The new Grace & Ida's offers more than food and drink, though. Seiger-Todd hopes to turn it into a gathering place for the community.
"I want to make it community-friendly, a comfortable place to come to," she said. "In the evenings I plan to have it available for club meetings, whether for book clubs, or Bible study groups."
Grace & Ida's will host its own events as well, including cookie-decorating birthday parties for kids and truffle-making classes for the holidays.
Seiger-Todd is also not scared to mix genres. She's planning a scrapbooking class in the restaurant and a show for local artisans. In fact, she's wants to set up a permanent display case in the corner of her store to showcase local talent.
"I want to make it the kind of place people want to meet at locally," she said.
As for the immediate future, Seiger-Todd is planning to partner with other Valley merchants and the national Great American Bake Sale Organization to host a bake sale Aug. 15 to raise money for the Carson Valley Community Food Closet.
But first, Grace & Ida's grand opening will be 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and will include a canned food drive. Customers who bring one can of food to the event will receive 50 percent off one bakery product.
Grace & Ida's is located at 1663 Lucerne Street, suite A. Regular business hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
For more information, call 783-4700 or visit www.grace-idascookies.com.
