New Business Will Serve Soup, Baked Goods, and Breakfast Items
True to recent trend, the Marshfield Mall is adding two new businesses to its list.
Filling the former Tropical Smoothie Café space by the front entrance is Grma’s Kitchen, which will serve on-the-go soups, salads, sandwiches and bakery items starting Friday, November 17. Joining it under the same ownership will be Craftworld, previously housed in the Wisconsin Rapids mall.
“I like to cook, I like to bake,” explained owner and Vesper resident Linda Austin. “We have come for holidays [at the mall] for a lot of years. We like the staff and the customers.”
Austin owned craft store Austin’s Craftworld in the Wisconsin Rapids mall with her husband. But foot traffic dwindled after the announcement that the Rapids mall would close early next year, and the business needed to either shut its doors or move elsewhere. The Austins have decided to pack up and re-open inside the Marshfield Mall, in a space near Younkers.
“We’ve been in business long enough, we know to go where it’s better,” she said. Craftworld will offer a large variety of crafts and collectibles during mall hours.
Austin’s husband will operate Craftworld and act as taste-tester to Austin’s new bakery. Grma’s Kitchen will have a daily lunch special, two different types of soup, and various sandwiches, as well as cupcakes, pies, cookies, and nut breads. In the coming weeks she’ll have some decorated Christmas cookies for sale.
Food items can be ordered at the lunch counter and packaged to-go, though there is seating in the vicinity. Baked potatoes will be on the menu a few days a week. Breakfast items will also be available, like muffins, cinnamon rolls and coffee.
The special spelling,“Grma,” is how Austin signs her name in cards since it’s typically pronounced very quick. “Everybody knows me by ‘gramma,’” she explained. A grandmother to eight, Austin is also known as grandma to their friends and as a go-to person for treats.
A trial run on October 28 generated a quick fan base. “It was so good, so comforting,” said mall office manager Cindy Gosar about the soup she tried. “It’s that flavorful cooking that you would have gotten growing up.”
Austin noted that the response from taste-testers was favorable. “A lot came back for seconds,” she said.
For now, Austin said she plans to get her feet wet, starting small, and then work up to more menu items as the business grows. Grma’s Kitchen will not cater, but the business plans to offer delivery, say if a small group wants lunch delivered. The kitchen plans to be open from 9-7 p.m. every day except Sunday.
