NWI Business Ins and Outs: Gourmet bakery with Filipino cakes, artisan jewelry store and 'Chicagoland's oldest karate school' opening
NWI Business Ins and Outs: Gourmet bakery with Filipino cakes, artisan jewerly store and 'Chicagoland's oldest karate school' opening
Coming soon
Jen's Gourmet Cakes is going to bring Chesterton sweet treats, including traditional Filipino cakes.
Jenny G. Yednak will soon open the gourmet multi-ethnic cake bakery at 540 Indian Boundary Road in Chesterton. It also will offer "one-of-a-kind and exceptional" cakes from Japan, Hawaii, France and Italy.
"It's true gourmet offerings," she said. "Baking is a passion I developed, which led to the beginning of my home business. It got busy, and once I booked more and more people we needed to get our kitchen back and start doing business with a commercial retail store."
She learned to bake from her grandmother, who was a baker in the Philippines.
"A lot of the cakes I had didn't match my palate and I got tired of it," she said. "So I started making my grandma's cakes and bringing them to parties and people started enjoying it and actually started ordering from me. I got good at baking and decorating cakes."
Coming soon
Jen's Gourmet Cakes offers 41 different flavors of cake, including Red Velvet, Triple Chocolate, Strawberry-Chantilly, Banana Velvet, Black Forest, Lemon-curd, Mocha-Latte and Vanilla Bean. It does highly customized designs for special occasions, such as of Lego, Fortnite or horror movies like Friday the 13th for people's birthdays.
"I love everything about baking," she said. "I love the procedure, the flavoring, the decorating, taking the picture, that people think it's pleasant to look at or how good they think it is. There's nothing about baking I don't love."
Coming soon
A Portage resident, Yednak found a site in Chesterton near her home. It's in a strip mall with Edward Jones and State Farm.
"It's close to the expressway. It's a busy place," she said. "The people of Chesterton are nice and friendly and accepted me to the town. Even though I'm Asian I didn't feel different. They treat me the same."
She took over a space previously occupied by a gluten-free bakery, so it didn't require much renovation. She decorated the interior like the Peggy Porschen Bakery in London.
"I liked the pink color and chic tone," she said. "It had a very modern touch to it. It had a feminine feel and my favorite jazz music. It's just a very feminine and floral bakery. I love the feeling and sensation of the bakery. I love the feminine feel as the majority of bakers I know are women. It's very inspirational."
Coming soon
The bakery also has German Chocolate, Green Matcha, Marble, Pink Champagne, Raspberry-Chantilly, Salted Caramel, Toffee Caramel, Tiramisu and Tropical Coconut-Pandan. It also rotates through seasonal flavors.
"These are my own recipes, like French buttercream with a twist," she said. "It's multi-ethnic where you can explore different flavors from around the world."
Coming soon
Jen's Gourmet Cakes also has Filipino cakes, including ube cakes made with purple sweet yams. Other offerings include wedding cakes, cookies, cupcakes and flan.
"People kept calling me wanting to order cakes," she said. "I realized I could make money with this. My Facebook page grew from a couple of hundred followers to 13,000 followers. I got the realization that I've got to start something."
Coming soon
Jen's Gourmet Cakes has a glass case with cakes, slices of cake and other sweets. It also takes custom orders it can turn around in a few hours.
It has a few tables and chairs for customers as they wait for their orders but caters to a carryout business with no dine-in. The bakery also does catering for baptisms, birthdays, baby showers, bridal showers, quinceañeras, office parties, celebrations and holidays.
Coming soon
"I would tell my fellow Filipinos I am opening the first Filipino bakery in Northwest Indiana," she said. "I am so excited and proud of that fact. It's going to bring Asian flavors and multi-ethnic cakes. It has 41 cake flavors so there's something for everyone."
For more information, visit www.jensgourmetcakes.com or call 219-302-4040.
Open
Luketti brought some sparkle to Munster.
Claudia Darak opened the artisan jewelry store at 921 Ridge Road in Munster, in the same strip mall that's home to Butterfinger's and the U.S. Post Office. It specializes in handcrafted jewelry that incorporates vintage elements. It stocks one-of-a-kind and limited-edition jewelry such as charms, pendants, natural gemstones, freshwater pearls and reclaimed chains.
She's been selling artisan jewelry at farmers markets and craft fairs across Northwest Indiana and greater Chicagoland for 12 years, such as at Fetching Market, the Lubeznnik Art Festival, the Griffith Park Full of Art and the Highland Farmers Market. She built up such a loyal clientele over the years that she wanted to establish a brick-and-mortar shop so she would no longer have to meet with customers in parking lots, at Starbucks or other such places.
"Most of my clients are from the Chicago area so this is the perfect location. I wanted one location people can come to," he said. "I made handmade sterling silver jewelry, jewelry from repurposed materials, necklaces, earrings, rings and so on."
Open
Luketti also will sell the work of other vendors and artists in the area. The store also carries ceramics, purses, leather and other goods.
"I want to carry the work of people I know and sell their stuff," she said. "I want to open it up to other vendors. This will be a story with different artists with different styles and price points."
Open
Darak studied art graphics in college and started making jewelry for herself.
"I love it. You get to express yourself," she said. "I work with mixed metals and pictures. I do colorful unique pieces. Most of my pieces are one-of-a-kind. I make jewelry from scratch or take old jewelry and make it more modern."
Provided
Her handcrafted pieces are all unique.
"It's a little bit bohemian and elegant," she said. "I have different collections with different styles."
As soon as the spring, Luketti will host pop-up shops from other vendors and classes, such as on how to make jewelry or perfumes.
"There's nothing like this in Munster," she said.
Open
Luketti will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.
For more information, call 219-237-2075 or find Luketti on Facebook, Instagram or Etsy.
Relocated
Southwest Academy of Kyokushinkai Karate is getting its kicks at a new location in LaPorte.
The dojo moved from the south suburbs to a new location at 507 Lincolnway. It celebrated a grand opening Thursday with the LaPorte Economic Advancement Partnership.
Previously located in Palos Hills, Hickory Hills and Chicago Ridge, the Southwest Academy of Kyokushinkai Karate claims to be the oldest karate school in Chicagoland. It has taught Sosai Mas Oyama’s Japanese style for more than 55 years.
Sensei Dennis Morales has more than 16 years of experience with the martial arts, both in training and teaching. He teaches his students karate, fitness, discipline, self-defense and lessons they can apply to daily life.
Relocated
Current classes serve children aged 6-11, youth aged 12-17 and adults over the age of 18 years old.
“Here at the dojo, we train as a family. We work with lifting each other up," he said. "The path we take when we train in martial arts is not an easy one, however, it is a rewarding one. I look forward to helping others grow in their martial arts journey. Osu.”
For more information, call 219-262-DOJO or visit www.southwestacademyofkarate.com.
WATCH NOW: 219 News Now - 1/13/23
NWI Business Ins and Outs: Tavern on the Lake, Artofsoul: The Eatery and Clarity Clinical opening
Joseph S. Pete
Business Reporter
Region native Joseph S. Pete is a Lisagor Award-winning business reporter who covers steel, industry, unions, the ports, retail, banking and more. The Indiana University grad has been with The Times of Northwest Indiana since 2013.
Business professor Dushan Nikolovski founded the Big Sell and is now at Valparaiso University looking to create a new entrepreneurial pitch contest hundreds of people would attend.
Mayor Tom Dermody is seeking the Republican nomination in a race featuring no other candidates from either party so far.
Round the Clock, the popular Region diner chain known for its hearty omelets and bottomless coffee, and Martini’s Scratch Kitchen and Lounge in Valparaiso will be featured on the America's Best Restaurants television show.
NWI Business Ins and Outs: NetPar golf simulator bar, Practically Magic Garden & Events and Casey's opening
The Town Council president believes it’s a worthy project because some homeowner groups don’t have the budget to adequately maintain drainage ponds.
Bruce White built a national business, constructed 225 hotels around the country, left a lasting mark on the hotel industry and became Marriott's largest franchisee worldwide. But he never forgot where he came from.