Sabrina Wernicke laughs that she’s, “not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination.” When she went out in Carmel, she found there aren’t a lot of places to go after 9 p.m. unless you wanted to sit in a bar.
That’s one of the reasons that she opened The Quirky Feather Confectionery with her older sister Heidi. It’s a late-night coffee shop and bakery with homemade macaroons, petit fours, mini-trifles and custom cookies made to order. It’s open noon to midnight, Monday through Sunday at 890 E 116th Street, suite 125.
“There isn’t anywhere else to go get a late-night sweet and coffee or tea, and we felt strongly that there should be,” Sabrina said. “For example, we wanted to offer a place for people attending events at the Palladium a place to go before or after the show.”
Wernicke said the idea was to create a feel where there are lots of arm chairs and comfortable seating so customers can lounge instead of being rushed in and out.
“We went for a sort of Alice in Wonderland feel without being too obvious about it,” she said. “We are open late and are hoping to eventually be a bar-alternative. Somewhere people can go together and have a conversation or come alone and read a book — we have a lending library. We both introverts and extroverts to be comfortable here.”
Heidi and Sabrina wanted to open a bakery together since they were children. They teamed up with a friend Stefani Lucas who they met at pastry school. Matthew Wilson and Alph Bingham help fix things, clean and do everything except for baking. Athena Peacock is their “barista extraordinaire.”
The menu of items is constantly changing and although they do large orders for parties their goal is to create an atmosphere where people can enjoy their sweets rather than just mass producing large orders all the time.
“We’ve tried to create a bit of a retreat from stress and hope that people will enjoy spending hours here,” Sabrina said.
One of their most innovative features is a “You Call ‘Em” cookie. You can pick your choice of dough — regular, oatmeal, peanut butter or chocolate — and then choose up to three mix-ins, including nuts, chocolate chips, candies, raisins, coconut, potato chips, Rice Krispies and more. They take an average of 10 minutes to cook and the dough is made fresh daily and the warm cookies are baked to order.
The grand opening is scheduled for Jan. 9 but customers can stop by anytime now.
“Carmel just seemed like the right fit for us,” Sabrina said. “We looked at a few potential locations in the Keystone and Castleton areas but when we walked into what is now our space for the first time we both just looked at each other and knew that it was where we should be, and the community has been even more welcoming and supportive that we could have ever imagined. We love being near a performing arts center and so many art galleries.”
