The 4709 California SW storefront that Great Harvest Bread Co. is vacating (as reported here Tuesday) won’t be vacant for long. This morning, we spoke with one of the West Seattleites who own Flying Apron and plan to open their third bakery/café in that space.
Angela Cough and husband Jeff Silva already have two West Seattle businesses – Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (4410 California SW) and Shack Coffeehouse (2920 SW Avalon Way) – but their first business, Flying Apron, is in Fremont and Redmond. Now, they’re expanding it close to home, and Angela tells WSB they’re “very excited.” If you’re not familiar with Flying Apron, it’s a gluten-free, vegan bakery and café – sweet and savory items. Angela says they had long been looking for a West Seattle location and discovered the Great Harvest proprietors were looking for someone to take over the space. The Flying Apron café will be “casual dining,” counter-ordering with seating or takeout. They’ll offer soups, salads, sandwiches, pasta, pizza, lasagna, etc. – all “100 percent gluten-free and vegan” – and when Flying Apron is up to full speed in West Seattle, they hope to have an “even more robust” variety of bread offerings. Custom cakes, too, even wedding cakes. “Our goal is food access … giving (people who have food sensitivities) the opportunity to enjoy things they loved” even before they changed their diet. Full-service coffee, too, “similar to what you’d find at Hotwire and The Shack.”
Once they open – no later than January, Angela says, though they hope to at least have part of the operation going during the holiday season (it will likely take them a little extra time to convert the space because it needs to be thoroughly cleaned for the transition away from wheat and other ingredients Flying Apron doesn’t use) – their hours will likely be similar to their current Flying Apron cafés, in the 8 am-7 pm vicinity. And they’re glad to be able to keep the Junction space in local hands: “I was born and raised here – really, never left – so for me (especially) it’s a big deal. We’re very well-rooted in this community – our kids go to Genesee Hill Elementary,” and they support local nonprofits.
They promise a community “launch party” when the West Seattle Flying Apron is ready to go. “We’re going to do our best to open as fast as possible.”
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