Family to open new bakery downtown

A new bakery is opening up in Ottawa, in the building on Main Street that formerly housed Allegre's pharmacy.

Tony Keim, the owner, said that it will be a full-line bakery with all kinds of breads, cakes, and donuts.

Brady Keim, 23, Tony's son, said that he is involved in the bakery as well.

"I graduated college last may and my dad wanted to open a donut shop here in town," he said. "One thing led to another and we thought  a bakery would be a better option."
Brady graduated from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, with a degree in classical and near-eastern cultures. He said that a bakery was rather outside his area of expertise.

Brady said the lunch service that was previously provided by Allegre's would continue

"We're going to build a new bar but we're still going to do the lunch service," he said.
Beth Keim, who is a third grade teacher at Garfield Elementary, said that her role is decorating.

"My job is kind of the hospitality person to make it feel warm and homey," she said.
Tony said that while they were going to have coffee and lunch available, the primary service would be the bakery.

"The coffee groups that use to go to different areas around town are certainly welcome," he said.

Beth said that she is excited about the bakery.

"It's something that the town needs," she said. "We haven't had a bakery in here in a long time."

She said that although there are stores like Walmart that carry baked goods, the new bakery will be the only business baking goods from scratch in Ottawa. She also said that she hoped that the new bakery can carry on some of the traditions from the old Drake's bakery.

Brady said that they would be offering free wifi as well.

Tony said that he knows college students like to study late and sometimes study early, and that they were welcome to come during the later hours.

"We'll be in baking anyway," he said. "So if we're in doing the baking part of it and the kids want to come in and do their homework and have a donut and visit with Brady and I, they're welcome to do that too."

Brady said that they are shooting for a Summer opening and that they hope to hire OU students.