START-UP OF THE YEAR

from Business Pulse magazine March | April 2022

by Business Pulse magazine

SMALL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

STORIA CUCINA & BAR

Jonathan Hutton

PHOTO: Sattva Photo

A dream come due

Jonathan Hutton rides experience, family recipes to success

Tara Almond

Opening a restaurant is difficult. Opening a restaurant during a global pandemic — amid business shutdowns, supply chain issues and other disruptions — may be more of a challenge than it’s worth for most people. But Jonathan Sutton, owner of Storia Cucina & Bar in Bellingham, wasn’t going to give up on achieving his dream of owning a restaurant.

Sutton, who grew up on Lopez Island in the San Juan Island archipelago and graduated from Johnson Wales University Culinary School, had worked in kitchens across the country, including a restaurant he owned and managed in San Francisco for eight years. But it had always been his dream to open an Italian restaurant based on his family’s Italian recipes.

He also missed his friends and family in the Pacific Northwest. So in 2019, he moved home and opened Storia Cucina & Bar in May 2020, amid a roller coaster of pandemic panic. At first, the restaurant was able to offer only a to-go menu, but wordof-mouth spread, and with the help of social media, the restaurant started gaining a following.

“It was super crazy,” he said, “because there was a push to get the restaurant open and, right when that was happening, COVID hit, so Bellingham was a ghost town.”

Sutton said he started off with to-go

food and moved to outdoor dining only. The restaurant moved to 25% capacity and then to 50% capacity, 75% capacity and, eventually, 100% capacity in July 2021.

“We had half a year where it was semi-normal, and then Omicron hit,” he said.

Instead of giving up, Sutton decided to double down. He began working to anticipate future shutdowns and be better prepared. He also worked with the Downtown Bellingham Partnership and the City of Bellingham to close a lane of traffic and build a platform for seating outside his restaurant to accommodate diners hungry to get out of the house.

“We had little fires and covering, so it could be raining or snowing and people could still sit outside,” he said. “You want them to be able to see the space, also, and get the full experience and see the tall ceilings, the beautiful bar stocked with booze and the pizza oven glowing in the back and enjoy the food fresh as it’s meant to be.”

By the time summer 2021 rolled around, the numbers and seating kept growing. The restaurant was able to hire more staff. Sutton said there are about 50 employees between the front and back, and the restaurant is looking to open seven days a week.

“Once we were able to get to full capacity, it made a huge difference,” he said. “When you’re running at half-capacity, your labor costs are higher, and you’re not doing as much revenue as you should be.”

Sutton said his hard work was rewarded when his Italian grandfather, 83, came across the country to experience his grandson’s restaurant. As far as future expansion goals, Sutton said he is working on branding the restaurant’s in-house limoncello for retail sale.

Sutton’s advice to those looking to open a new business is that they should be sure they know the industry — or at least know someone who knows the industry and can offer mentorship. At the end of the day, it’s about caring about all those little details that make your business stand out, he said.

“I’ve learned that whatever you’re going to do, it’s best to do it 100% and be passionate about it and invested,” he said. “You need to really embrace and love what you’re doing because it will show through in the work, to the place or to the food, if you’re a restaurant.” ■

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BELLINGHAM AXE

Matt Kinney and his son, Zac Kinney

PHOTO: Sattva Photo

Popular indoor sport makes its way north

Bellingham Axe finds bullseye in Bellingham

Tara Almond

For a city with one of the highest numbers of brew pubs per capita, Bellingham can still sometimes lack in activities — especially in winter months, when the weather drives people indoors.

So after Bellingham resident Matt Kinney visited an axe throwing venue — “Axe Kickers” — in Seattle with his brother, he decided he might be able to fill a need and bring something fun to downtown Bellingham.

“It was a blast,” Kinney said. “I’ve always wanted to open a business, and that was a thing that turned me on to it. You can eat and drink all day at breweries, and bowling is great and fun, but I saw the need for more activities and decided I would take a chance.”

The next week, Kinney was searching for a venue and came across the old Guiseppe’s building on Cornwall next to Bellingham Bar & Grill. He was sold. Bellingham Axe opened later that year, in 2020, and quickly gained followers.

“I saw the building and it was like ‘Awwwwww,’” he said. “It’s a onestop-shop street. There’s Bellingham Bar & Grill if people want to eat dinner, or Pure Bliss Desserts if people want to get a piece of cake before

throwing axes.”

Once a Canadian pastime, axe throwing has gained a huge following in the states, becoming a popular way to spend time with friends and family celebrating birthdays or other events. Americans spent more than $6 million on axe throwing activities in 2019 at businesses using the Square payment processing system — an increase of more than 300% in sales from 2018, according to one CBS article. In fact, axe throwing has grown so popular that the World Axe Throwing League was formed in 2017 to organize competitions, which are now broadcast on ESPN. Kinney said Seattle has an estimated 10 axe throwing establishments, but there was nothing even close to Bellingham.

Kinney added that despite COVID19 shutdowns, Axe throwing had not been listed on the list of restricted activities, so business continued as usual and steadily grew. Today, Bellingham Axe has seven employees, and Kinney estimates it grossed over $400,000 in 2021. Kinney said there has been great interest in starting leagues, and he will be looking into that over the next couple of years. Bellingham Axe also won “Best Date Night Place” from Bellingham Alive in 2021.

“It’s such a great ice breaker for people,” he said. “You can bring a snack and do an activity instead of sitting across from someone. I’ve also had a ton of people come up say they had so much fun on their first date, or couples who hadn’t been out in years.”

Washington state law has specific rules about allowing alcohol in all-ages venues. Kinney said Bellingham Axe has opened a bar to serve beer and wine in a separate but connected part of the building, so patrons can enjoy beverages between axe-throwing sessions.

“It’s been amazing; even if we were not growing, I’d be OK with that,” he

“You can eat and drink all day at breweries, and bowling is great and fun, but I saw the need for more activities and decided I would take a chance.”

— Matt Kinney, owner of Bellingham Axe

said. “We’re able to pay our employees a decent wage and buy them dinner once or twice a week from local businesses. More than that, though, it’s been a blast bringing some activity and some life on Cornwall; that’s what I wanted, was to bring something fun to town.” ■

360 MODULAR BUILDING SYSTEMS

Robert Walters

PHOTO: Sattva Photo

Customized modular homes, built by hand

360 Modular continues to expand thanks to quality, custom work

Tara Almond

The COVID-19 pandemic has proven difficult for many businesses. Restaurants cut back hours, entertainment venues shut their doors and the world nearly came to a halt. But one Whatcom County company has managed to continue growing, in terms of employees, clientele and expansion of its production facilities. 360 Modular Building Systems opened its 17,000-square-foot facility in January 2021 with just six employees. Today, the company has 29 employees on the production floor and an additional five in management. All the employees reside in Whatcom County.

Production manager Robert Walters said the company expects to add another 30 full-time employees in the year ahead — nearly doubling its workforce — and expand its production facility just south of Ferndale.

“We’ve been fortunate during the pandemic,” he said. “We bucked the trend and actually expanded our labor force, increased in clientele. The interest in what we do has just grown exponentially since we opened our doors.” 360 Modular Building Systems builds wood-framed modular buildings, both residential and commercial. All the buildings are built by hand, Walters said, as opposed to by automated machinery. This gives the company much more control over the process and the details. Once finishes are applied, the buildings look like

one continuous, seamless building — much closer to a traditional stick-andframe home than the double-wide modular homes of the past. “It’s been a goal of our company to be a productive and positive member of the community and put as many employees on the floor as we can, as opposed to automated machinery,” Walters said. “Plus, we’d rather employ a working person than a computer program.”

The modular process doesn’t mean the homes have cookie-cutter designs.

“What makes us unique is we are able to customize every project, as opposed to just having a catalog of buildings that we can build,” he said. “Instead, we work with every client to build a customized home or building to their specifications.”

Walters says the company has minimized supply chain issues by establishing good relationships with vendors and suppliers, so there is open and honest communication to establish expectations that everybody can reach.

He said he would advise anyone starting a business in Whatcom County to utilize local vendors and suppliers.

“There are people in just about any business and industry right here in Whatcom County,” he said. “Rather than resorting to Google or searching Seattle-area suppliers, utilize the network that’s local and close first.”

Walters said the geographic proximity to the Interstate 5 corridor and deep-water ports made Whatcom County an ideal location for a modular building manufacturer, not just for

projects in the state of Washington but also Alaska and the rest of the country as well. There’s also a skilled labor pool, he added, thanks to the other production facilities in the area.

“There was nobody in the I-5 corridor doing what we do,” he said. “So we were able to fill a niche.” ■

“It’s been a goal of our company to be a productive and positive member of the community and put as many employees on the floor as we can.”

— Robert Walters, production manager of 360 Modular

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CARNAL RESTAURANT

Aaron Saurer, James Zamory, Sean McDermott and Skip Williamson

A four-star spin on standard fare

At Carnal, Michelin skill meets Hollywood flair

Tara Almond

PHOTO: Sattva Photo

What happens when you take a film producer and three chefs from some of the world’s best restaurants and put them all together in an empty space in downtown Bellingham?

The short answer is beef jerky. But not just any beef jerky — this is some next-next-level-classic-French-technique-mixed-with-barbecue style of beef jerky that you’ve never tried.

The long answer is an upscale dining experience featuring straightforward American favorites with all the creativity of a Michelin-rated restaurant but at a more accessible price.

The entire vision of co-owners Skip Williamson, Aaron Saurer, James Zamory and Sean McDermott was to harness the skills they learned working at some of New York’s best restaurants to creatively approach some of America’s favorite foods. What they landed on was beef jerky. After about 100 tries, they got it right, and Carnal Restaurant was created.

“Our whole idea was to get bone marrow into beef jerky,” Williamson said. “It’s wildly complicated, and it turns out it was almost impossible, because it’s mostly fat, and fat wants to move away from the protein fibers. It was basically French techniques mixed with barbecue.”

The restaurant, of course, offers much more than beef jerky. However, the same concept exists in almost all

its menu items, from charcoal grilled onion with preserved orange, roasted hangar steak, and its namesake slowcooked sous vide bone-in beef short ribs finished over an open flame.

Williamson grew up in Gig Harbor but moved to Los Angeles for several years and worked producing films and music. Acknowledging the creative lineage between the culinary and music industries, he wanted to apply that same creativity to his business model. He decided to put a lifestyle food brand under the guise of a restaurant.

Recruiting talent from Eleven Madison Park (with its three Michelin stars) and Smorgasburg (an open-air food market in New York) wasn’t hard. Abandoning the high pressure of those kitchens in exchange for Bellingham’s proximity to the outdoors and access to fresh, local ingredients and creative community proved to be an easy sell.

“They are super, super passionate — they are true artists,” Williamson said. “They wanted to take those skills and make a more approachable menu with $30 and $40 entrees.”

They also teamed up with Eric Jackson, a legendary snowboarder who lives in Bellingham, and went to work completely gutting and remodeling the old Up & Up Tavern on State Street. About three months into the process, indoor dining was shut down as a reaction to COVID-19, and most construction work was halted. During the shutdown, Williamson and his crew focused on perfecting their beef jerky. By August and September, people began going back to indoor dining.

Carnal currently employs about 20 people, all of whom are based in Whatcom County.

As far as expansion, the owners plan to use their restaurant as a research and development lab to develop more meat-based and other snack items. They also opened Accomplice, a burger restaurant, in an adjacent space, with the same approach of taking straightforward items and using precise techniques to make them shine.

Williamson said that late 2020 was on and off, with more shutdowns, but Valentine’s Day 2021 was “kind of a turning point.” By the time summer 2021 rolled around, the restaurant had hit a stride and continued to grow, he said, though the restaurant industry is always subject to the ebbs and flows of the seasons.

“The chart is going up for sure,” he said. “For Valentine’s Day this year, we probably did three times the business that we did last year. And by May, it’s gonna be rockin’.” ■