Raleigh’s Night Kitchen bakery in Seaboard Station will close. Here’s its last day.
A popular sweet shop, bakery and cafe will close in Raleigh next month amid the redevelopment of Raleigh’s Seaboard Station.
After seven years, Night Kitchen Bakehouse and Cafe announced it would close its doors for good in three weeks. The bakery’s last day will be Saturday, April 9. Until then, Night Kitchen will be open Thursday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“We are sharing bittersweet news today,” the bakery posted on its website Monday. “After 7 years in business, Jake and I have decided to close Night Kitchen. We have loved being your bakers. We love knowing what you order and how often we’ll see you. We love knowing what kind of dog you have, how old your kids are, what you do for work and for fun. It has been such a pleasure being part of the community.”
Owned by married couple Helen Pfann and Jacob Leslie, Night Kitchen opened in 2014 and became a popular destination for downtown Raleigh’s pastry lovers and a neighborhood staple for Mordecai and Oakwood. Night Kitchen was among the first of Raleigh’s artisan bakeries, helping to lead to today’s flourishing baking scene.
‘Great cheerleaders’
Before Night Kitchen, Pfann had worked in acclaimed bakeries and kitchens in Boston and later in the Triangle, including with Ben and Karen Barker at Durham’s Magnolia Grill.
Night Kitchen developed into a destination for pastries, tarts, cookies and a variety of breads.
“We relied on word-of-mouth to let the business grow at an organic pace. Our regular customers have been great cheerleaders,” Pfann said.
Raleigh’s Seaboard Station is in the midst of one of the city’s largest development projects — a $300 million plan to add more than 130,000 square feet of commercial space and 650 new apartments, led by Washington, D.C. developer Hoffman & Associates.
That redevelopment has also meant the end for several restaurants and retail shops, including the closing of 18 Seaboard, J. Betski’s and the recent sale of Logan’s Garden Shop. Logan’s is expected to remain in Seaboard Station through 2023 or 2024, the News & Observer previously reported.
‘COVID changed the game’
Pfann and Leslie said Night Kitchen was offered space in Hoffman & Associates’ new building, but declined, saying the timing wasn’t right for their family.
“The timing just wasn’t going to work out for us,” the couple said in a press release. “Changing your business model and overseeing a build-out is a lot trickier with a one-year-old in the picture.”
Like all restaurants and cafes, Night Kitchen’s business was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic of the past two years, the owners said, forcing them to consider what a new bakery might look like.
“COVID changed the game in so many ways, and we’re looking into business models that would allow us more flexibility and lower our operating costs,” Pfann said in a release.
The couple does plan to launch a new restaurant project in the future, they said, but the timing and location haven’t been decided. It is unlikely to be another version of Night Kitchen, Pfann said in an interview.
“We’re pretty attached to Raleigh, and I have so many close ties to the restaurant industry in the Triangle,” Pfann said in a release. “You’ll hear from us soon!”
This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 2:57 PM with the headline "Raleigh’s Night Kitchen bakery in Seaboard Station will close. Here’s its last day.."
