Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 4, April 2004

Copyright 2004 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

Seattle Sun Business Briefs

Essential Baking turns 10

The Essential Baking Company, the artisan bakery with a commitment to using organic ingredients, is celebrating its ten-year anniversary.

Founded in 1994, the Wallingford-based business grew from CEO Jeff Fairhall's successful Essential Foods (makers of organic wrap sandwiches). The Essential Baking family now includes two successful cafes (at 1604 N 34th St. in Wallingford and in the Madison Valley, with a Broadway store set to open soon) and the Fremont-based Essential Chocolate Company.

Head bakers George DePasquale and Javier Hernandez Mejia produce some 23 varieties of rustic organic breads, which are available in local grocery stores and the two cafes. The bakery also produces breakfast pastries, desserts and fine chocolates, under the direction of Pastry Chef and Chocolatier William Leaman.

Swink joins Windermere

Suzie Evans Swink has been hired as a sales associate at Windermere Real Estate's Wedgwood office. Swink was previously a sales associate with Home Realty. Windermere Real Estate has nearly 200 offices in seven Western states and British Columbia.

The Wedge closes Laurelhurst shop

Due to an expanded catering business, The Wedge Catering will relocate to Capitol Hill. This move will mean that cheese-lovers will be without the shop's eclectic array of foreign and domestic cheeses for the first time since 1971, when The Wedge Cheese Shop first opened in University Village Shopping Center (since the mid-1980s, the shop has been located at 3238 NE 45th St.). Although the new catering facility doesn't include a storefront, the owners of The Wedge say they hope to reopen the cheese shop within a few months at a new location.