PORT ANGELES — Dave Long, chef and owner of the Oven Spoonful, hopes to reopen the coffee shop on First Street under a new name this week — perhaps as early as Monday.
A sign in front of the shuttered Itty Bitty Buzz at 110 E. First St. in Port Angeles said this weekend:
“Friends of the Spoon.
“We will open soon.”
The Port Angeles coffee shop owned by Deb Ferguson of Sequim — an offshoot of The Buzz on Sequim Avenue — closed Monday, while The Buzz in Sequim closed Tuesday.
Long said he and his wife, Karen, have been in negotiations over the past week or so to purchase the equipment in the First Street location and open as the Oven Spoonful in the same location.
Open Monday
“We’re hoping to open Monday,” Long said, adding that was “the best-case scenario.”
Ferguson could not be reached for comment Saturday.
All the production for the Oven Spoonful, a catering company that offers everything from ethnic food to baked goods, has been at the Front Street location for the past five years, Long said.
“We have run our business in conjunction with the coffee shop . . . so it’s a natural progression of being here,” he said.
“It’s an opportunity for us, and we’re definitely looking forward to it.”
Long said the sale price was confidential.
Customers won’t see much difference when the place reopens.
Long plans to hire back the four baristas who served coffee under the old management, and they’ll be serving the same coffee and Oven Spoonful cookies and scones.
There will continue to be art on the walls and Wi-Fi offered for laptops, he said.
“It will have the same amenities,” Long said, “just be even more because we’ll be able to be the primary influence on what’s going on.”
Couple more hirees
He said he and his wife may hire a couple more people to help with catering.
Long said the company also provides cooking lessons, is “in tune with the local food movement” and is “kind of a comprehensive culinary resource.”
Before opening the Oven Spoonful, Long taught culinary arts for Port Angeles High School and the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center, and also was part owner of the now-defunct Angeles Brewing Co.
For more information about the Oven Spoonful, visit www.ovenspoonful.com.
________
Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
