Town Council Allows Swede-A-Licious To Begin Baking

Nancy Swanson and Patti Reslow, licensed food safety managers, have permission from the First Evangelical Lutheran Church on Division Street to use their state certified kitchen for six months to see if there is a market for Swedish coffee bread and other treats. During that time they will donate some of their product to the church’s food pantry.

Since the location is temporary, Swanson and Reslow listed a post office box for an address when they filed their business application with the Secretary of State's office.

That didn’t work because since the Sept. 11 terror attacks businesses can’t just exist with a post office address and must give a physical location. So the pair used a home address of 170 Chestnut Dr.

That caught the attention of the Town Council when they applied for a victualing license and councilors had some questions when the application came up on the meeting agenda.

Swanson explained the situation and told council members only paperwork would be done at the 170 Chestnut Dr. address, not food preparation.

First the council suggested the victualing request be postponed until the Sept. 12 meeting. Then the town solicitor suggested he should take a look at the application. That prompted councilor Mark Gee to comment on the difficulty of doing business in Rhode Island.

Noting that the business doesn’t really require a victualing license, Council President Mike Isaacs told Swanson and Reslow to go ahead with their plans and come back in six months for a determination of what if any licensing would be needed for a permanent location.

The women say they will be doing their baking on what was once known as Swede Hill and will be testing the market to see if there are enough Swedes as well as people who have a taste for Swedish bakery products to keep them busy. They hope to be in operation by the end of the month.