In Business: A Family Business That Adds A Unique Touch To Park Rapids

It’s a two-for-one family business deal when you visit Dad’s 1/2 Way There Take-N-Bake Pizza and S.W.eets Bakery in Park Rapids.

A casual conversation, prior pizza work experience, a family chef and a creative baker are all things that sparked the interest of a family to open not one, but two businesses.

“Well, knowing Dad for as long as I’ve known him, I’d say about maybe 10 or so years ago, I know that he’s always had an interest in owning a business and wanting to own a business. And when we were talking about it further more a few years back, to me, the only way for me to work my way up with my experience is to become a owner and felt like maybe it’ll be a good idea if we all teamed up and give it a go.” said co-owner Austin Curtis.

The mother of the family, Amy Workman, focuses on the family’s bakery called S.W.eets, where she creates custom orders for weddings, birthdays, and currently has over 80 dozens cookies to bake for Christmas.

“I started decorating cakes years ago when my oldest child was very young, out of necessity, and I kind of just had a knack for it so I kept going with it and I’ve been doing it ever since, over 20 years now, 23 years apparently to be exact, and it’s just something I really like, I’ve always been an artist so I just enjoy doing it,” said Workman.

The bakery is currently transitioning to a bigger facility due to the growth of its sales. However, the pizza shop is your chance to satisfy any pizza cravings and comes with a variety of options and a seasonal menu which changes every three months.

“We have appetizers, boneless wings, pretzel bites, to calzones, to our own line of pizzas that are ‘pre-ideas,’ we have our own combos. So there’s something for everybody,” said co-owner David Schwartz.

One thing that makes the family’s pizza shop unique is that they make their own pizza sauce, dough and offer fresh vegetables. The pizza shop uses a take-and-bake method, where they make the pizza but you go home and bake it, and yes, instructions are provided.

The business also started a “Here For Our Own Community Challenge” tradition where community members donate Christmas presents to gives to children in the local community. The presents will be delivered to children on Wednesday.