Nearly a year after being offered a dream location in the woods, the owners of Prima Bistro and Saltwater Fish House and Oyster Bar have opened a brick-and-mortar location for their third business.

Seabiscuit Bakery officially opened for business last week in the former Mukilteo Coffee Roasters Cafe in the Woods.

The bakery has existed primarily as a pop-up operation since its inception in 2017. Baking was done in a small shed attached to the back of Saltwater, where things could easily get crowded and hectic.

Now bakers and chefs are free to roam in an industrial-sized kitchen accompanying the new eatery.

Gary and Beth Smith, the owners of Mukilteo Coffee Roasters, contacted Jenn and Sieb Jurriaans last spring about taking over the former cafe. The Smiths wanted to focus on their coffee roasting near the same site and felt like it was time to pass the torch.

“We are so excited. They are so excited,” Beth said. “It’s exactly what you would ever want in a situation. Our customers are going to be totally taken care of, and we get to do what we love, which is coffee.”

Because of its unique location next to the Whidbey Airpark, the cafe has tapped into an aviation clientele over the years. Celebrities and billionaires have been known to fly in for their “$100 hamburger” at the cafe.

“This is really an appealing destination because it’s out of Langley and people get away out here,” Gary said. “I don’t mean to diss Langley, but it’s another option on the South End. We all that live here look to see what we can do, and this is one of the spots. People love it.”

For Jenn Jurriaans, it was an easy decision to make. She is hopeful the new Seabiscuit Bakery becomes a popular spot for private events, such as rehearsal dinners, with its sprawling indoor and outdoor seating.

“We’ve turned away probably thousands of events from Prima and Saltwater over the years,” she said. “Between Prima and Saltwater we always get requests for private events, but it just doesn’t work for us. It turns away so many of our regular diners.”

The new full-service bakery sells baguettes, croissants, babkas, pretzels, gougères, cupcakes, sandwiches and ready-to-serve salads, among many other things. Coffee from Mukilteo Coffee Roasters will always be sold.

“It’s really important to us that we do them proud,” Jurriaans said.

Seabiscuit Bakery is located at 3228 Lake Leo Way and is open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. For more information, visit seabiscuitbakery.com.

(Photo by Kira Erickson/South Whidbey Record) Barista Kelsey Coutts grabs a croissant from the case at Seabiscuit Bakery.