It’s basic, you can find biscuits and kindness in Grandview
Grandview recently welcomed another new baker, and they are anything but basic. Basic Biscuits, Kindness & Coffee was opened in August by former attorney and member of Grandview Heights City Council, Rebekah Hatzifotinos.
“We offer all of the basics you need in life – from handmade from scratch biscuits to freshly brewed Stauf’s coffee to locally sourced sausage from The Butcher & Grocer – all mixed with all of the kindness you need during the chaos of your day to day,” says Hatzifotinos.
Her inspiration for the bakery followed a vacation to Charleston, South Carolina a couple of years ago when Hatzifotinos had breakfast at Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit. “My husband and I stopped in to get a bite to eat – all they had were biscuits and coffee – they were good, but not how I would make them,” she explains.
At first, she toyed around with the idea of opening a bed-and-breakfast back home with some sort of bakery aspect. However, her husband encouraged her to open a biscuit cafe like the one in Charleston because Columbus didn’t have anything like it.
Developing the concept for a biscuit bakery business took about 18 months prior to the actual opening. This included spending a lot of time in the kitchen working on and creating recipes for a variety of biscuits and a lot of taste tasting from her family and her husband’s coworkers.
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Instead of making the expected drop biscuit in a pan, Hatzifotinos rolls the dough out on a surface, cuts out the biscuits, and shreds butter into them to create a more flaky layer.
Although the timing of the coronavirus pandemic was challenging for a new business venture, Hatzifotinos said the decision to open the doors on the bakery never changed: “I had already started the process and I refused to stop. This was my next step and I had to try,” she says.
Not only did she refuse to give up, but she found a location close to home. Being a resident in Grandview for over 15 years, opening her bakery in the area was an easy choice. “It was a no-brainer and my husband’s business is right upstairs so we have started what we call our business compound – the future is here for us,” she explains.
Having worked as a server before becoming an attorney, Hatzifotinos remembered loving the culture and kindness that came from the customer service industry, and this led her to her second act.
“I am an attorney by trade just like my husband, not a baker or trained culinary professional by any sense of the word…If I was going to do anything else other than being an attorney, I knew this was what I wanted to get back to,” she says.
Hatzifotinos tells us that Basic Biscuits, Kindness & Coffee isn’t about her, rather it is about her staff and the community. “It is about creating an environment where my staff can feel appreciated and our customers get the kindness we need right now from the second they walk in, to the moment they leave…I am hoping the work environment I set up for my staff and customers speaks for itself and the word gets out that we are here.”
Want to get your hands on a tasty breakfast sandwich filled with kindness? You can order online or visit their store for carry-out breakfast items like “grab-and-go” sausage gravy, biscuits & quiche. The cafe is open Tuesday – Saturday from 7 a.m. – 2 p.m.
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