After growing pains as the business grew, K&K Bakery is open again with new restaurant options and new employees.

And it is now K&K Bakery & Restaurant.

K&K closed before the summer to focus on attending area farmers markets. Each week, owner Karl Milliron attended markets in Mason City twice, Austin once and Albert Lea twice.

When the restaurant opened more than two years ago, Milliron said the intention was to keep the business as a bakery only.

But as demand increased, K&K added sandwiches and soups, both which are made from scratch. They later added breakfast foods such as pancakes.

In the spring, K&K added some grilled items. Milliron said he was working long hours and couldn’t find a restaurant manager.

During the summer, Milliron said they’d need more kitchen space for the baked goods sold at the farmers markets. He described having a restaurant and a bakery open in the summer as being a “bit of a clash.”

Rather than not having the capacity to pursue the restaurant and bakery open during the farmers markets, Milliron said they decided to close down the restaurant for the summer.

This worked well, as Milliron said the sales at the markets were good.

Another reason the business was able to close and focus on the farmers markets was because Milliron has little debt.

“I think it’s allowed us to kind of focus a little bit more on quality and food and having fun,” Milliron said.

While Milliron described K&K as more of a retail bakery, he said farmers markets offer a chance to reach a different kind of customer.

“There’s a difference between the kind of customers and traffic you see at the farmers market versus what we are able to do right here in this facility. In the farmers market, it’s like you’re going shopping,” Milliron said.

The experience at the farmers market has attracted customers to K&K. Milliron said that he has some customers come from Mason City, Iowa. He talked about two elderly sisters from the Des Moines, Iowa, area who first bought K&K bread at the Mason City farmers market and now travel to K&K occasionally to buy the breads.

Closing the business at that time gave Milliron the chance to make some changes.

Jonathan Walters was hired as head chef and manager. Milliron said he’s trying to phase his work out of the day-to-day business and work more in the finance side.

With Walters’ cooking skills, K&K is now a full restaurant. In the past, customers would order at the counter and then pick up their meal when their name was called. That’s no longer the case; there is now a wait staff.

A key part of the new restaurant is a new menu. It has been revised to include many dinner entrées such as herb grilled chicken breast, spinach and artichoke stuffed chicken, grilled pork loin, grilled sirloin steak and chicken parmesan.

Milliron said they’re still working to maneuver through all the small details.

“We’re still getting ready even though we’re open,” Milliron said.

One current task for the business is getting the word out about the reopening.

“I think for us, having been shut down over the summer, it’s getting the message back out in Albert Lea,” he said.

Recently, Milliron said they’ve been telling that to customers at the farmers market.

“We still have people who think we’re just a bakery and don’t know about the restaurant portion of it,” Milliron said.

The bakery started out of his basement, and he still has a full kitchen in the basement.

The restaurant will remain open during the summer in future years, he said. In the past, much of the baking has been shifted back to the house, and that could happen when the farmers markets open next spring.

K&K Bakery & Restaurant, 1105 S. Broadway Ave. in Albert Lea, will be open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and Sunday from 6 a.m. until 1 p.m. There are about eight employees, but Milliron said they may need more.