It all started in a trailer for Stephanie Palmer, serving gluten-free baking through the window at weekend farmers' markets.
Now a month since Flourish Bakery launched its biggest operation by fourfold at 415 Second St. West, Palmer is celebrating with the barista and friend who helped make this dream space a reality.
Three or four years ago, also on a June 12, she made the move from trailer baking out of a tin 香蕉视频直播� with the occasional bear customer 香蕉视频直播� to a dedicated storefront with three staff at Douglas and King streets, home to Alchemy Studio. It was certainly a step up, giving her the room to install an espresso bar.
However, though it was a "great stepping stone" for Palmer's growing business, "we were just in a kind of awkward spot," not easily accessible or visible to Revelstoke's downtown.
This last May 12, Palmer took an even larger stride opening Flourish closer to the hustle and bustle of Revelstoke's caffeine and pastry lovers, in the former building of a Japanese Canadian grocer, second-hand furniture shop and bingo hall. While finding a bigger and comfier home for Flourish yielded few options in a tight commercial market, Palmer lucked out among 20 other businesses interested in the Second Street West space.
"It's nice to be somewhere that's central, but not too central," she said.
It was November or December 2024 when Riegan Drummond, a former Dose Coffee barista who's now Flourish's front of house manager, got involved with the business.
On one of his routine work break visits to the bakery back by Alchemy Studio, which had also started offering dairy-free coffee that sat better with his stomach, Drummond was asked by Palmer for advice on espresso machines. It was a "pretty organic" conversation for Palmer, who'd already known him a couple of years, and had recently started selling product to Dose.
As eight months of renovations kicked off for the somewhat sad-looking storefront on Second Street West, Palmer brought in Drummond, who was seeking a change of job scene, to help design a dream espresso bar frontside, with a production bakery in the back.
"It's not really often that you get to start with a blank canvas, so to speak," Palmer said, emphasizing that Flourish worked principally with local contractors for all the building renovations.
Drummond said a priority for him, coming into Flourish's makeover, was creating a physical workspace grounded on efficiency and organization, that enables prime ergonomics for baristas in a constant time crunch.
"Time very much is money," he said, describing his vision "to meet staff where they don't have to stop and think for five extra seconds about how something works."
Palmer, a passionate thrifter around the Interior, also got to make the space her own by bringing in a collection of vintage furniture, chique artwork and, as one notices scattered around the bakery, mini dinosaurs. Young visitors particularly enjoy the toy kitchen set installed around the back. With this much larger space, Palmer also hired a much larger staff.
"We went from a team of three to a team of 16," she said, expecting the Flourish family to grow to 20 by the end of June.
The business is easily seeing 200 more customers per day, and quadrupled revenue, according to Palmer. With much higher production capacity now, Flourish is also selling baking to Holm coffee company, bread to Dose, and desserts to Old Town Marina Pub in Sicamous. It's further partnering with Mountain Goodness Natural Food, Fruit World in Sicamous, and Ratio Coffee & Pastry in Vernon.
"We'd love to get our product out further because there aren't many gluten-free bakeries in town," Palmer said.
Also part of Drummond's mastermind, Flourish will be running a rotating roaster that changes monthly between local and other Interior coffee roasters. First on the feature list is Dose, potentially followed by Lark Coffee Roasters in Creston or Rooftop Coffee Roasters in Fernie, helping spotlight B.C.'s talented coffee community.
"We had so many drafts of plans, and then with Riegan's help I was kind of able to get a flow of plans," Palmer explained. "We did our best to meet those expectations, as well as create a space that can evolve with us."
Above all, for her and Drummond, is reducing the struggle and improving the safety and selection in Revelstoke for gluten and dairy-free diets. At Flourish, "there's no real stigma behind it," Drummond said. "It just tastes good."
Unlike other bakeries and coffee shops in town, Flourish doesn't plan to close for shoulder seasons and remains open seven days a week, save Christmas, 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
"We're excited to have a space where locals can feel at home without a million tourists," Drummond added.
By early July, Palmer and Drummond hope to be opening the space not just for sitting and sipping, but for full table service with a brunch menu. Also in their plans is extending seating outside to a street-front patio, and starting events with live music and paint nights.
Some day, Drummond even dreams of opening what may be Revelstoke's first rooftop patio.