Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Calvin Brown and Ares Rogers are hoping the third time will be the charm for Mollies Bakery.
The landmark bakery has closed twice since Mollie Andrews retired a little more than three years ago. Brown is buying the bakery with plans to keep the Mollies tradition alive.
Rogers is joining Brown as the head chef. Rogers worked for Tana Thompson the last couple of weeks before she had to close Mollies in mid-May.
“Before then, I worked out at the Point about five years,” Rogers said. After Mollies closed, Rogers was looking for work and he ran into Brown. He told Brown what had happened at Mollies.
“He’s like, ‘What?'” Rogers said. “He couldn’t understand why Mollies was shut down.”
Brown, who grew up in Sweet Home, told Rogers how Mollies had been there when his father was a kid.
“I’ve always wanted to own a restaurant for some reason,” Brown said. “This is something in the community that’s been here for so long.”
He said he remembered going to Mollies with his grandmother when he was a kid.
“It’s something (where) I can’t sit and watch turn into a distant memory. You’ve got to keep the Mollies tradition alive.”
Rogers and Brown got to know each other while working at the Point years ago. After meeting Rogers there, Brown went to work driving for Schwann’s before returning to the Point about a year and a half ago to wait tables.
Brown is a 2001 graduate of Sweet Home High School. He studied business at the University of Oregon and returned to Sweet Home. His girlfriend Sara Suarez will also work at Mollies. She has a daughter, Collette, 5.
Rogers has been in Oregon for about 30 years. He moved to Redmond from Beaverton about 10 years ago and to Sweet Home about five years ago. He is married to Angela, and they have three children, Alyssa, 11; Autumn, 8; and Austyn, 6.
Rogers said he saw a lot of positives at Mollies when he worked there and he was shocked when Thompson had to close the doors.
“I told him what a gold mine this was, about the potential,” Rogers said. “I could see the potential just those couple of weeks I was working here. We both had our own reasons for wanting this place to be here and see it stay.”
They started rolling ideas around and talking to MollieAndrews, Brown said. “Everything just kind of fell into place.”
They have been busy getting the bakery ready to open by early September, Rogers said.
Thompson’s remodel of Mollies was a nice job, Brown said. “That leaves us a lot to work with.”
They’re bringing a number of ideas to the restaurant, including expanding delivery routes, Rogers said. Any place they drive by is a potential account. They plan to begin lunchtime deliveries and add fresh bread, pasta and roast chicken to the late afternoon menu for an easy dinner.
“We want to do something they’ve never done down here, a dinner menu a few nights a week,” Brown said. He would like to get a beer and wine license to complement the dinner menu.
Thursdays through Saturdays, Mollies will be open till 9 p.m. for dinner. The rest of the week, Mollies will be open from 4 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m.
It will offer fresh Northwest cuisine, Rogers said. “It will be one of those little places where you can stop by, relax, have a good meal and chat with friends.”
One thing won’t change at all. They plan to continue using the same recipe Andrews used for her famous doughnuts, Rogers said. “We’re not going to (mess) with 40 years of perfection.”
In the meantime, they are seeking as much advice from Andrews as they can, Rogers said.
“That’s what we’re driving for, working really hard to make her proud. A lot of people want Mollies back.”