My Biz: Love of cooking leads to Iowa City business

IOWA CITY — As avid home cooks themselves, Susan and Kevin Felker have a pretty good idea of what a well-equipped kitchen needs.

“That’s been our focus,” Kevin Felker said. “We want durable, good products that people are going to use over and over again. That really has guided us. We sell really good quality, made-in-the-U. S. stainless steel pots and pans that will last you a lifetime.”

Along with those pots and pans, the Felkers’ Prairie Kitchen Store stocks cutlery, cookbooks, kitchen tools, spices, small appliances, gourmet ingredients, and other supplies.

One corner is given over to Olivelle flavored olive oils and balsamic vinegars, imported from Italy — some 30 flavors one day this month.

“This is one of our more popular areas in the store,” said Felker, offering samples of Black Garlic Tamari vinegar and Pizzaolio oil.

Starting the business

Felker, 60, was a lecturer in business analytics at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business until his retirement last year. Susan Felker was assistant dean for Tippie’s undergraduate programs.

“Susan was looking to do something different, so as a family we just looked at what can we do, what would she be interested in doing? It had been in the back of our minds for several years,” said Felker. “We all cook a lot at home, we entertain a lot. How can we leverage the things we really like and know as a business in Iowa City?”

They tapped some help for the project.

“The Iowa City Downtown District was a huge help,” Felker said. “They maintain a list of businesses they would like to see downtown, and ‘kitchen store’ was at the top. We knew ourselves that Iowa City could really use a kitchen store, and there was a focus by them to try to get one. That’s what started the ball rolling.”

While the Downtown District helped locate a suitable storefront, the Felkers also tapped Kirkwood Community College’s Small Business Development Center.

“They helped us develop the business plan,” Felker said. “We did all that research before we signed a lease.”

Pandemic pivot

With a market identified and space secured on North Linn Street, the Felkers set April 2020 as Prairie Kitchen Store’s grand opening.

“But COVID hit about two weeks before that,” Felker said. “The university closed up, restaurants closed up. There wasn’t much of a walkaround traffic to drop in.”

The new business owners pivoted quickly to adjust to the pandemic’s disruptions.

“We don’t have web sales or online sales, but for those first weeks we packaged some things — a baking package and several items,” he said. “We had eight or 10 things (listed) online that were packed – we did pizza making and bread baking and a cocktail kit, and that really helped. You adjusted a little bit, and you did the best you could.”

Prairie Kitchen officially opened, finally, June 1, 2020.

“The supply chain is still probably not as good as it should be right now, but it’s pretty good,” Felker said. “There were definite ebbs and flows with getting products in the store.”

Business has picked up nicely from those halting early days, enough so that Alex Felker, their son, left his job as a copy editor at the Ames Tribune to join his parents at the store. There are also two part-time employees.

“Foot traffic has picked up,” Felker said. “Saturdays are our busiest day. We get lots of family visiting, friends visiting throughout the year, so we get a lot of people walking around downtown.”

Coming soon

Meanwhile, the Felkers’ at-home cooking continues to develop new ideas.

“We’ve been making and testing pizza dough, so starting in August we’re going to have a small refrigerated case up front,” Felker said. “We’re going to sell our own housemade pizza dough that people can take home and shape it and make a homemade pizza.

“We’re going to have some cheese, some pepperoni, and we’ll have the tools, too. We make a lot of pizza. We have an outdoor pizza oven at home. I’ve spent a lot of time perfecting the dough and getting it really tasty, good-quality dough.”

Know a business that should be considered for a “My Biz” feature? Let us know by emailing mary.sharp@thegazette.com.