By Sandra Sepaniak, digital marketing assistant at Sunset Hill Stoneware
Breakfast at the Kalamazoo House looks a little bit different from what you might find at other bed & breakfasts, but guests who visit this historic Michigan inn may not know what this morning rush entails. Let’s pull back the curtain and take a closer look at what goes on when the owners and proprietors, Stephanie and Steve, are serving up your hot breakfast first thing in the morning.
The Kalamazoo House offers a rotating menu of several different options for breakfast, along with private table service. This is a little different from how some inns do things—most tend to make only one set dish for every guest they have visiting on a given morning.
Cozy up to breakfast with your Kalamazoo House mug
To get the process started, the inn’s cook comes in to prepare for the next day’s breakfasts each evening, including preparing the fruit and bread options ahead of time. He then returns to work at 6 a.m. to prepare the main dishes from scratch, so they’re hot and fresh that morning. With 10 guest rooms and a mix of double occupancy and single business travelers on most days, the inn serves about 80 breakfasts each week, if not more during the warmer months of the year. Needless to say, preparing all these meals is a full-time job few get to watch unfold in real time.
Guests at the Kalamazoo House select which dishes they want for breakfast from a menu and sign-up sheet by 10 p.m. the night before, so they don’t have to wait long when they come down the next morning.
Steve and Steph enjoy their morning breakfast service
The Kalamazoo House’s owners like the magic of offering five to six different choices for their guests, including light and vegetarian options. Steve and Steph firmly believe that offering multiple options only improves their guests’ experience. After all, if you don’t like or can’t eat eggs, you’re bound to not enjoy your breakfast experience if there aren’t any available alternatives.
When visitors come to Kalamazoo on retreat and to sample the libations from the city’s multiple breweries, Steve knows they need sustenance in order to make it through their tours from day to day. With large portions to keep guests going, they offer menu items like Cajun corned beef hash, a country sausage strata with eggs and potatoes on many weekends, and the inn’s signature banana nut crunch French toast. Some of these soul-warming breakfast dishes are classics that have been served at the inn for years, while others are relatively new additions to the menu.
Beverage options include the classics: freshly brewed coffee, several tea varieties and a choice of five different juice options, all offered in handcrafted Sunset Hill Stoneware mugs in the Kalamazoo House’s signature shade of teal.
On weekdays, breakfast is served between 7:30-9:30 a.m., while the hours run a little later from 8-10:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Garrett Meyers is the man behind the great tastes at The Kalamazoo House
Complimentary breakfast is an essential part of the experience at the Kalamazoo House. Where some inns are beginning to offer cold breakfast options a la carte or imposing upcharges for offering warm breakfast, that just isn’t how Steph and Steve roll. They like to keep things old school with how they run their breakfast, all to help their guests have the best experience they possibly can during their stay.
Since the Kalamazoo House combines Victorian style and elegance with a casual and modern air, Steve likes how he and Steph can serve breakfast and interact with guests in their jeans instead of dressing in formal dining attire. Some guests even come for breakfast in their sandals and bathrobes. There’s no pressure to look more formal than that at this classic but down-to-earth bed & breakfast.
This marriage of classic, contemporary and convenience is everywhere you look in the Kalamazoo House. The amenities, including Roku and free Wi-Fi, juxtapose with the silver and china found at the formal table settings in the dining room. For those finding themselves in need of a second cup after breakfast is over, the convenience continues as the Kalamazoo House offers 24-hour beverage stations with coffee, tea and hot cocoa available.
Steve admits he’s embarked on a bit of a social experiment at breakfast and with the 24-hour beverage cart. In addition to offering hot, freshly brewed coffee, tea and hot cocoa in the Kalamazoo House’s teal mugs, he also ordered one blue mug to offer in the set for guests. Any time he replenishes the beverage cart, he enjoys watching to see which guest is rebellious enough to drink from the lone blue mug.
Whether you’re on a weekend getaway to the ‘Zoo or you’re in town on a business trip for just a few days, breakfast at the Kalamazoo House will give you everything you need to face the day ahead, all with a fresh pot of coffee and plenty of choices.
Plan your stay at the Kalamazoo House here.
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