A
Women Owned Business /
June 2004
Ampersand
Angie Caskey runs Ampersand, a bakery and deli, catering to
low carb tastes in Vienna. |
By Pat Lawrence
Parkersburg native Angie Caskey opened Ampersand in December 2003,
as a complement to the delicatessen she and her husband have been
operating since 1995. The deli didn’t have space for the specialty
baking and desert items Angie envisioned serving.
She named the new enterprise Ampersand because she
and her husband Kevin, a former chef at the Lafayette Hotel, kept
adding more new and different additions to their offering. Each
morning, a loyal clientele gathers at the honor bar for fresh coffee
and delectable pastries. At noon, there is Neapolitan and pizza
and in the afternoons and evenings, new faces amble in for ice cream
and guilt-free deserts, like the flourless almond cake or chocolate
trifle cake made with artificial sweetener.
Angie says, “Customers are the best part of
being in business” and she has responded to their requests
for low carbohydrate menu items. Ampersand offers five low-carb
bread choices, including flat bread, and features low-carb pasta
in soups and salads. Atkins plate specials are always available,
with chicken, tuna, ham and egg salad on fresh greens.
She and Kevin do the baking, but family is a key ingredient
for the success of both Mustard’s Deli and Ampersand. Angie’s
father “cooks, cuts prepares food, takes care of the register
and is handy everywhere he goes. It would be impossible to run things
without him. He does everything!” Her home-schooled 16-year-old
son also helps with the family enterprise.
Angie and Kevin met when both worked at the Lafayette,
and Angie was the rooms manager. They left in 1994 to open their
own restaurant, Mustard’s Deli, in Vienna.
Angies’s parents operated a hot dog stand when
she was in high school, so she knew a little about retail food sales.
Kevin knew food preparation and local tastes. The trend to low carbohydrates
has provided the opportunity for trying new ingredients. The sugar
substitute Splenda is used in their flourless cakes and eight flavors
of sugar free ice cream.
Customers are her favorite part of being in business,
but baking has become one of Angie’s favorite pastimes, “I
didn’t know how much I would enjoy it.” She says there
are a few down sides to having a thriving business and lines of
hungry customers. “The hours are long; 8 a.m. – 9 p.m.
every day but Sunday. And, there is always the dishes!” PL
For more information, call 295-6300 or visit
2800 Grand Central Avenue, Vienna WV.
Copyright © 2005-2006 A Woman's View. All rights reserved.
Femme Fair 2006
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