Support a Mom-Owned Café & Catering Business on Bainbridge!

Hi! Many of you likely know me, but for those that don’t, I’m Elisa Laverty and I’m passionate about creating nourishing food on Bainbridge Island through my soon-to-be café and catering business.

Growing up in a large family, I found my passion in the kitchen—preparing meals for my family, and often for gatherings we would host in our home. That love for cooking has only grown, leading me to teach cooking classes, create unique menus that blend cultural influences with the bounty of Pacific Northwest flavors, and now, taking the leap into owning my own business.

I’m so excited to announce that I’m working to launch a small café/grab and go options out of the Dayaalu Yoga Center here on Bainbridge Island, and it will be more than just a place to eat—it will be an extension of the yoga studio it’s housed in, offering a space where the community can connect over wholesome, thoughtfully crafted food. The vision I’m carrying is to offer another level of care in our community for folks struggling with food insecurity.

I want to build a structure where folks can volunteer to do work trades, where I share my knowledge of cooking and folks will be able to take home food that they helped prepare. There will also be opportunities for folks to do work trades with the farm that I will be sourcing from here on Bainbridge Island and bringing home fresh produce.

My catering services bring the same level of care and intentionality around sourcing locally as much as possible, to bring vibrancy to every occasion and event I provide food for.

As a mom of young kids, this journey means even more to me. I want to build something sustainable that not only supports my family, but also enriches my community. However, starting a business comes with significant financial hurdles. I’ve applied for grants, but so far, they haven’t come through. The reality is that access to funding can be a major barrier, especially for a small, independently owned food business like mine. So I am looking to my community to ask for your help!

Your support, big or small, helps break down these barriers and makes it possible for me to create food in a meaningful way, without the added stress and burden of the costs associated with starting a business. Thank you for believing in my vision—it truly means the world to me!