New Artisan Bakery at UCA

Upper Columbia Academy (UCA) is operating a bakery to help keep staff employed during the quarantine from the COVID-19 outbreak. The Artisan Bakery, an idea hatched by Eric Johnson, principal of UCA, and Sheila Allison, food service director, is a hands-on way to bridge the gap and supply employment to several of the non-teaching staff. It also provides delicious baked goods in the process. Customers can order the baked goods online before Tuesday at midnight and pick up and pay for the items Fridays from 2 to 2:30 p.m.

Looking at the mouth-watering bread offered, (see photos below) it may come as no surprise that Sheila has owned and operated her own bakery in the past. The bakery employs several staff in this venture, two bakers, the girls’ deans, the school nurse and the student labor coordinator. The bread offered includes bagels, buns, French bread, focaccia, dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, pecan sticky buns as well as gluten-free and vegan options.

Following three weeks of operation, the Artisan Bakery has had a remarkable response. Customers include school staff, local church members, parents and many from the local communities. Their first weekly orders have doubled, and God is blessing. They have also partnered with Medical Lake School Districts 2nd Harvest Bite2Go program and they contribute more than 20 loaves of bread and 40-plus mini bagels or cookies weekly to lower-income children who receive food assistance through the stay at home orders. This is a blessing to the children and their families as each of the bread bags are tied with a Bible verse of encouragement.

The future of Artisan Bakery is not yet written. There is room to grow as they currently offer one bake day per week for pickup on Fridays. If their customer base continues to grow, they may be able to expand and operate during the summer and possibly into the school year. The school is looking at possible options to keep the bakery in operation year-around and perhaps involve students, once school opens again. In the fall, when the UCA Farm will be offering seasonal veggies to be sold at the new farm stand, they hope to include their baked products as well.

Customers can order through the following link www.ucaa.org/bakery and pick up at the academy cafeteria (parking lot behind the café) at 3025 E. Spangle Waverly Rd., Spangle, Wash.