Help Charlsie's Bakehouse come to Catonsville

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello friends, we have some exciting news from our little Bakehouse.

 

Some background first for new buddies who don’t know our backstory.

I (Morgaine) started a cottage business right before the beginning of the pandemic by creating a few dozen bakery items and selling them at the Catonsville Sunday farmers market. Sales were so successful that I had to rent a commercial kitchen to accommodate customer requests. We were offered a chance to have a small kitchen in federal hill with space to sell our items, While this was an exciting opportunity it drew my attention from our community.

 

My family members have supported me by pitching in on all aspects of running the business, enabling growth.

Charlsie (Charlsetta) was my grammy, a fun-loving Texan through-and-through, who valued a fiercely independent southern way of life. I get my creativity and sense of whimsy from her and strive to honor her by creating some of her favorite desserts.

 

I am so humbled by every single one of you that has bought a cookie, a whole pie, or entrusted your loved ones special occasion to our little bakehouse.

 

To the main point…

If you know the food scene in Catonsville you're aware of the lack of a nostalgic bakery. after all, getting stuff from us once a week at the farmers market isn’t enough to satiate the masses. Business owners in the area generally stay put for the long haul, making it incredibly difficult to find any sort of spot (even a dilapidated one) for new businesses to come in.

 

Well, our time has come (if all goes as planned)! Charlsie's Bakehouse has found a place to lay our rolling pins down. But we need your help. The only space in Catonsville available with some sort of kitchen needs work, like a lot of work. It’s in the perfect location in downtown Catonsville and was a food business before. There are many non -superficial improvements to the space we HAVE to make to be approved by the county and health department.

These include grease trap installation, electrical work, gas line and water line enlargement, rotting floor replacement and hood installation, new engineer plans. The biggest cost that was unforeseen is the new fire code where we have to rip out the old drop ceiling and put a 2 hour fire safe seal, replacing all the old electrical and plumbing which is in the way of the new ceiling. Once we learned of all these issues, we realized we were going to need community help to make this a reality. So we are doing as much as we can ourselves before handing it over to the professionals, knocking down walls and floor removal. (Fun fact, there were 6 layers of floor , some dating back to 1920!) It's been back-breaking, but we are dedicated to making this happen in our hometown as we feel the Bakehouse will bring this community even closer.

 

Our goal now is to expand offerings of grab-n-go meals and hot goods .

 

We will have an expanded menu including hot biscuit sandwiches , old fashioned bologna sandwiches, and soups . We will also carry old favorites such as our items you’ve probably had at the markets (including key lime pie , whoopie pies, etc) . We will carry hot coffee, nothing fancy like cappuccinos, and other fun drinks.

We need to build out more of the existing space, and have already gotten quotes from builders. In order to make this kitchen buildout a reality, we need y’alls help raising money.

 

I know what you’re thinking; why wouldn’t they just pull themselves up by their bootstraps like every other small business? Trust us; there are no straps left on our boots after working 70-80 hours a week. I postponed hiring an employee even though I desperately needed the help, because of the small space and COVID. When we first started in 2020, I worked another job to afford all the equipment needed to continue operating. In these odd pandemic times, banks are wary of giving food businesses Funding.

 

 

Why should you spend your hard-earned money on someone else's business? Well, our family is in Catonsville (we actually live on Frederick road), and we understand and support the community in any way we can. We’ve donated to many causes in the short time we've been open, including donating baked goods for Black lives matter events, the first Catonsville family pride event and many pta needs, mental health events, and pies for those who cant afford it during the holiday times. Remember the Catonsville bakery everyone goes on about that has been closed for decades now? We’re hoping to follow in those footsteps to a certain point. Need a last-second cake for a bat mitzvah, we got y’all. Forgot about Aunt Ethel’s retirement party and want something that reminds her of her childhood; we got y'all. Our goal isn’t to just be a bakery, but to be an important staple of the community, supporting other local businesses, ptas, and having a community board for events and such; while it's super tricky right now with the supply shortage, we focus on buying PET plastic or compostable items. We've even reached out to a local composting company to give all our eggshells and compostable food scraps!

 

Please help us if you’re able, to help the buildout for Charlsie's Bakehouse in Catonsville. If you cannot financially support us, sharing our gofundme would help spread it further!