By Lesa Linster
On the heels of the spectacular opening of next-door neighbor Holy Mountain, Ben’s Bread will officially open their doors at 8am this Thursday, July 20th. Award-winning baker Ben Campbell and his business partner and wife Megan Campbell have delighted the neighborhood with several soft opening events in the past month, and will now be a steady presence in the almost-completed Shared Roof building on the corner of 70th and Greenwood.
Ben’s Bread Co. will stay true to what Campbell does best, offering a selection of fresh baked breakfast, lunch, and grab and go items featuring top quality local grains. Expect full loaves for sale and rotating daily specials, along with a breakfast menu that includes English muffins, pastries, doughnuts, biscuits, breakfast sandwiches, and toasts. Lunch will bring a variety of sandwiches, salads, and daily specials. They also plan to offer seasonal items such as summertime picnic packs, holiday rolls and cookies, pies, refrigerated doughs, and more.
An extensive drink program will feature Herkimer hand-crafted espresso and highlight local, small, and independent roasters through a rotating drip coffee program. Their first guest roaster will be Stamp Act Coffee, by Ballard-native, Andrew Kent. The menu will also feature guest-curated seasonal wine offerings beginning with a selection of summer wines by Stephanie Eburah, select beers from favorite local brewers, Rainier, teas, sparkling waters, juices, and cold brew.
The 1,400sf space boasts 10 indoor seats, an outdoor standing bar counter, 24 outdoor seats on a covered and heated courtyard, and 10 sidewalk seats.
“We’re so excited to be bringing this vision to life after over two years of multiple pivots,” said Megan Campbell, co-owner of Ben’s Bread. “In the time since we announced our brick and mortar, we’ve held more than 20 pop-ups around the city, hosted three major fundraisers, and developed a successful wholesale line. We couldn’t be happier to finally have our homebase ready to go.”
“We’re looking forward to cranking out the best food we can using the highest quality local ingredients we can find,” said baker and co-owner Ben Campbell. “We have great relationships with Cairnspring Mills and Small’s Family Farm, and we’re looking forward to bringing in additional local grains from Camas Country Mills, Chimicum Valley Grainery, Ethos Stone Mills, and Fairhaven Mills.”
Over the last several years Ben’s Bread has established itself as a much loved and successful community-focused bakery. To date they have supported numerous local nonprofit organizations giving more than $15,000 to a variety of important causes as well as donating product and time to Cooks for Black Lives Matter, Community Loaves, and other food-based fundraisers.
When Ben’s Bread announced their launch in 2021, they had 473 Kickstarter backers help them reach a funding goal to purchase a new bread oven. Fans have remained loyal and supported them at various locations across the city with lines stretching several blocks.
Ben’s Bread Co. is located at 216 N 70th St, with regular hours Wednesday – Saturday 8am – 3pm. Find more information at https://bensbread.com/, and on Instagram: @bensbread_co.