by Cori Hilsgen
The ever-popular Kay’s Kitchen in St. Joseph is about to have a second location – a new one in St. Cloud.
Tanya Finken, Kay’s Kitchen owner, has not yet decided on a name for the new place, but it will be located in the Midtown Square Mall on Division Street, St. Cloud, and it will open in November or December, depending on when construction is completed.
After construction of a wall, Finken will occupy the kitchen space that was formerly St. Cloud Family Restaurant. St. Cloud Floral will occupy the space that was formerly the guests’ dining area for the restaurant.
Finken’s new restaurant will occupy the existing kitchen area, and she will build a new restaurant dining space. Construction demolition will work its way back toward the existing mall entrance.
“The kitchen is huge with a loading dock for catering, and the equipment that exists is pretty turnkey for a catering business,” Finken said. “After looking at the kitchen, I realized it would be a good fit for my catering business and to bring my pie-baking there as well.”
The new restaurant will be open 6 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday-Saturday.
“It will be really exciting to do an independent cafe in St. Cloud,” Finken said. “It’s something my guests at Kay’s have mentioned a lot over the years – that St. Cloud needs something more independent. Why not open a Kay’s there?”
The new restaurant will be more of a culinary-meets-cafe concept. Finken is contemplating names that represent how she is combining baking, breakfast and catering all under one roof. Any suggestions can be emailed to her at [email protected]. She is offering free pie for a year for a chosen winner.
Limitation space
Finken had been looking in the St. Joseph area for the right kitchen space to meet her needs for catering and pie-baking, but has not been able to find what fits her needs.
Her current pie-baker, Tanya Penly, makes the pies in space that Finken leases from Mary Kuebelbeck, who purchased Sliced on College Avenue from Finken in January. That has worked well because the pie-baking is finished before Sliced opens.
Current Kay’s
Finken started new hours of 5:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday-Saturday Sept. 1 at the Kay’s Kitchen St. Joseph location.
“I needed to keep that early start time for the round-table guys that are here almost every day,” she said. “These guys keep my staff and myself on our toes and are a great start to our day.”
Along with the new hours, she has revised the menu to include new breakfast and lunch items. The new menu offers healthier options and choices such as quinoa, steamed broccoli, house-made salads and more. Removing the dinner items off of the menu enabled her to make use of the extra room in the coolers for more breakfast and lunch items.
Finken recently received a liquor license to serve wine, malt liquor and beer at the St. Joseph Kay’s Kitchen location.
With the reduced hours, if people are interested in renting Kay’s Kitchen at night for holiday parties and some business after-hour events, she could cater events and serve a few alcoholic beverages. Finken said the space would be good for parties of 50-100 people.
For her patrons who wish to still dine out for dinner, she recommends people head over to Sliced on College Avenue. Sliced has some new dinner-menu items, as well as the traditional offerings, including wine and beer.
Finken, who currently employs 28 people at Kay’s Kitchen, plans to start by hiring about 12 new employees for the St. Cloud location and catering business.
“I always love the sense of community St. (Joseph) provides to their local families, the college kids and how they continue to patronize and be here for me,” she said. “I am always able to give back because of that. I do a lot for non-profits and for benefits and I really enjoy doing that. Especially when it comes to catering and I know where my cost is on something and I can really help somebody out by being able to offer that for them.”
Finken said she wants to continue to be able to donate to local needs. She has heard a few people express their concerns she might be leaving the area, but she wants to reassure people she plans to keep Kay’s Kitchen open in St. Joseph and doesn’t plan to leave.
“For me, this new (St. Cloud) location is having the room to put things where they belong under one roof,” Finken said. “I wish there was somewhere in St. (Joseph) I could do that. I have looked for the past couple of years and I have been wanting to stay in this central area. I just happened to have found the space to do it in.”
Finken grew up in Avon before moving to St. Joseph. She graduated from Apollo High School, earned an associate’s degree from Central Lakes College in Brainerd and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from St. Cloud State University. She has two daughters, Kenzie and Alexis.
Finken worked for Sherburne County for several years before she got into the restaurant business. Earlier, she partnered with an uncle to operate Funky’s in Melrose.
She purchased Kay’s Kitchen in St. Joseph in 2008 and re-opened it in 2009 after remodeling it. Finken was familiar with the restaurant because she had worked there as a waitress during high school and college.
She is a distant cousin to O.C. (Dirk) Dierkhising, who along with his wife, Kay, opened Kay’s Kitchen in 1972.
Besides owning Kay’s Kitchen, the catering and bakery, she also owns rental properties and is a part-owner of Little Saints Academy.