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About Us
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The Team at Monica’s is known for thinking globally and acting locally. Utilizing and therefore supporting local farms and other businesses is extremely important to us, as is offering you ingredients that are sustainable and responsible whenever we can. On that note, here are some things that you might like to know:
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We are a CarbonFree Partner®! This means that we offset the carbon footprint for our selves, our business and each of our employees. While we reduce what we can, we offset what we can’t, allowing us to take action on global warming now.
We work with Paul Gregory, an organic farmer in Silverdale, to provide you with the freshest in-season produce available. Paul also picks up our food waste to use as compost on his farm. It is a wonderful circle and we are working together to offer you more all the time.
Our dairy and eggs come from Puget Sound Dairy, a Bremerton based distributor. Dave ensures that our dairy products and eggs are Washington grown, and free of hormones and antibiotics.
Start Now Farms in Bremerton supplies us with the beautiful organic lettuces you enjoy on your salads and sandwiches. We get more produce from other local small farms as well, and we proudly use Duck Delivery in Sumner for what we cannot get locally. Duck is nationally recognized for their efforts towards sustainability and they have a great selection of Northwest produce to offer.
Our house blend coffee comes from Personal Roast, right on the canal in Silverdale. Paul and Dean are busy roasting their organic, fair-trade beans to our specifications, and giving back to the community through donations of both time and money. Our other drip coffees and espresso come from Caffe Umbria. They roast their beans in Seattle and we love using their organic blend, which is also a fair trade coffee. Caffe Umbria donates a portion of their sales to organizations that help support fair trade coffee farmers.
Local Bees keep us in sweet honey!
We feature sodas from Humming Bird Hill, brewed in Silverdale by Mike & Dee Armstrong. Their root beer is so good it sells out all the time!
Our flour is Washington's own Shepherd's Grain, an alliance of family farms dedicated to practicing sustainable agriculture. Their farming practices have been certified 'environmentally and socially responsible' by Food Alliance.
Those Fabulous Pickle Spears come from Pleasant Valley Farms in Mt Vernon.
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A family owned and run business in Woodinville called Saltworks provides our salts. We use their Sonoma salt daily, which is the only commercially produced
sea salt in the United States.
Harvested from evaporation ponds
in Northern California, this is a natural
sea salt that contains no anti-caking or
free flowing agents. A few of their specialty salts appear in many of our recipes as well as the Sonoma.
The farro we use comes from Bluebird Grains in Winthrop and our other salad grains come from Finn River Farms in the Chimacum Valley.
Our poultry is Washington grown free-range and we source from small Northwest Farms for grass fed beef and natural, organic pork. Our salmon is wild-caught Washington or Alaskan. Everything else is chosen carefully to be safe and satisfying for you to eat.
We use only olive oil, canola oil, nut oils and unsalted butter for fats in our cooking and baking. Nearly everything is made from scratch right here in our kitchen, so we can guarantee the the quality and freshness of every bite.
Our paper products, including baking papers and coffee filters, are unbleached, and we try to find paper products that are at least partly post-consumer recycled.
Our light bulbs are compact fluorescent lights. We subscribe to green power through PSE and all of our cleaning supplies are environmentally friendly and chemical-free except for those chemicals required by law.
We compost our food waste, recycle everything that the county will take and monitor our water usage. We donate to the food bank several times a week support many local charities.
We want to leave a smaller footprint on this earth. We are doing some things well and we know there are lots of ways that we can do better. Some of them are expensive and therefore are our future goals. Other things we may not be aware of and we welcome your suggestions and ideas.
Monica’s Team is grateful to each customer who walks through our door. We know that you choose to come here and spend your time and money with us. We want you to know that we are taking responsibility, being active in our community, and taking better care of you with every bite you take.
Thank you for letting us feed you! ~Team Bakery |
Vision, mission, goals and core values
Our vision: To make our business the number one choice for casual dining and catering in the greater Kitsap area; to pursue excellence in everything that we do; to be the employer of choice for hospitality minded and team oriented individuals. This vision will allow us to provide a wonderfully comfortable place to be, nurturing the minds, bodies and spirits of all who enter the café. We will foster a warm community spirit with a reputation of reliability. We know we must remain flexible and attentive so that we can personalize our service whenever possible; we want our guests and employees to feel good when they come in.
Our mission: Be a leader in sustainable practices while providing excellent quality, homemade foods, that are locally sourced and/or organic, whenever possible. In working our mission we will have outstanding service, provide a safe, friendly environment for our employee family and the community to gather in, as well as for local artists, teachers and other creative spirits to offer and display their teachings, arts and crafts; and to focus our charitable giving so that it has a direct impact our local community.
Our Goals: Accomplishing and maintaining these goals helps enliven the café and enhance the wholesome spirit we want to project.
These goals are long term, ongoing and ever evolving as we grow and learn our business:
1. To be able to maintain positive balance in our lives so that the business rounds us out and reflects our values, rather than becoming an all-consuming chore, and to eventually be able to have small blocks of time away from the business, with the confidence that it will run smoothly in our absence, through a strong, reliable staff.
2. To offer our community wholesome foods that are satisfying, great tasting, and worth every penny.
3. To have our employees and customers feel appreciated, supported and satisfied, every time they come in.
4. To support local business and the farming community through buying locally, keeping it simple, in season and flavorful;
5. To remain connected with our community, including giving to local charitable contributions and participating in, and hosting, charitable events;
6. To have this business support all of us financially, as well as offer benefits and financial bonuses to our employee family.
Our Core Values: help guide us in a life rich in experience, creative spirit, laughter and all the things that we value most:
1. Respectful curiosity: (the key to opening all doors) A desire to learn about the values, beliefs and foundations that others stand on turns all fears into learning tools.
2. Integrity: When we live as an example of our own values it is reflected back to us in the people that are attracted to our lives and business.
3. Creativity: To live by example a life open to exploring the creative process in any form; A colorful, fully expressed life.
4. Honoring spirit: When we strive to see and honor the true spirit in each person we come into contact with, our own spirits cannot help but grow.
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Mark and I could not do anything without our amazing staff. We are so
grateful to each of them for all the hard work that they put in, and we want
you to know them, too. We were blessed when we took over the business, in
that every one who already worked there decided to stay and help us grow. We
have had a couple of our team members move on to different paths, and we
have had new members join us. It is the ebb and flow of business, yet since
we are truly a family here each one of those occasions is something to
celebrate. |
Mark Downen is our primary baker, my business partner and my husband. Mark
has always had a knack for baking and working with his hands; he was an auto
mechanic for 16 years prior to this career move. We have been dating since 1987, when he was in the Marine Corps and I was in college. We married in
1991 and Mark has never failed to
support me in anything; this café is no exception.
I am Monica Downen,
owner and operator of Monica's Waterfront Bakery & Café. I worked for the
King County Sheriff's Office for 15 years as a dispatcher/911 Operator and in July of 2005 I quit my job and, with the encouragement of my friends and family, I entertained the idea of
opening a restaurant. I had worked in all aspects of restaurants all through high school and college, but that was a long time ago, so I knew I had some research to do. After 11 months of informational interviews, mentoring and training, we opened this cafe under our own management.
This life is far more
than I could have ever bargained for, and I love every second of it. Even
the less pleasant stuff is a learning experience and I start, and end, every
single day with a huge THANK YOU to the Universe.
Leslie came to us in February of 2008. She is a courageous woman, quitting her job and taking some risks to find her heart's career path. Leslie's background is in information technology, but she is a natural on the front line at the cafe. We have watched her blossom and she has taken to the place like an Irish woman come home at last! These days Leslie is making the soups and salads, helping with catering and makes all the salad dressings as well as working the front counter.
Rheycel started in November of 2008 and has she ever jumped in with gusto! She was thrown into the mix rapidly when staffing and weather played havoc on all of us and she has pitched in like a natural part of the team from the very first day. We love Rheycel's willingness to adapt and her wry sense of humor, and she tosses a mean salad. Watch out for her!
Honorable Mention
Katie was part of our Original Crew. As of August 2007
Katie is spreading her wings to find a different career path, but she still
loves to fly back to see her old nest.
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Others we miss...
Ivy worked with us from August, 2007 until March, 2009. She was an integral part of our team and family, and we wish her all the best things in life!
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Betuel has worked at the café since 1989 and we are honored that he decided to stay on with our team. He is
our right hand man in the kitchen, providing us with the majority of our
prep work. Among other things, Betuel makes the Wraps, the Panini, the
Dilled Chicken, the Pesto Tortelloni, the Meatloaf, and he helps out with
much, much more. Muchas Gracias, Betuel!
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Sharon has worked at the café since 1999. She
is our retail manager and is usually the first face you will see in the
mornings. She is in charge of most of the ordering, and she helps us keep
the place running smoothly. Sharon's input is invaluable to me in my
decision-making and I always know I can count on her to help me think things
through. Sharon's laugh is infectious and makes my day when I hear it!
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Erin climbed on board with us in February of 2009, and she is now our morning baker! She is sweet and smart and a very quick study. Erin leads a vegan lifestyle at home and in 2010 she made the decision to become vegetarian at work. She is able to improve her baking through the added sense of taste and we enjoy learning from her, even as she is learning from us.
Victoria joined our team the first week of September, 2009. Her fantastic team spirit and hospitality shine through every day and she is a joy to work with. She is eager to learn new things and I am sure we will see her blossom all over the restaurant in the months to come.
Lori was part of our Original Crew. She left us for a little while and is back now with the bonus of her new baby daughter! Lori is working up front to whip up the best sandwiches you have ever eaten, and she does it faster than lightening! While she has done every job at the cafe including catering, baking, and perfecting soups & salads, she is focused on our front of house hospitality for now.
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Honorable Mention
Alycia Midence, another member of our Original Crew. Since January of
2007 she is finding her own road to follow, and
she is very much still a part of our family.
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'Tis Better to have hired and lost, than never to have hired at all!
Renee started with us in January 2007 and learned the job super fast! She left us to raise her beautiful young family and we love it when she stops by to say hi! |
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Monica’s Waterfront Bakery & Café
CENTER OF THE KNOWN UNIVERSE FOR COFFEE & COMFORT |
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Copyright © 2007 Monica's Waterfront Bakery & Cafe' |
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