Cooking Up Ideas

Rapid City kitchen supply company Someone’s in the Kitchen and Brookings kitchen store Carrot Seed Kitchen Co. are both local businesses with the perfect blend of culinary expertise and home-cooked experience.

Both offer cooking classes, knife sharpening, online recipe blogs, and gift registries for any occasion.

Ashley Berry started her business as a way to grow closer to her family and to stay involved with the community.

“My husband and I were both in other industries, and we wanted to do something that would bring us together and help us be more involved in the community,” said Berry.

Part of being involved with the local community is offering services that big box stores and sites like Amazon can’t offer their customers. Berry said that she is in the shop seven days a week and focuses on customer service.

“I feel like small businesses are something of a rarity,” said Berry. “They’re becoming fewer and farther between. We try to focus on customer service, quality products, and making sure that we’re there for our customers to help them.”

“I think just those unspoken things about the fact that the service and support you get from shopping local far outweighs the service that you’re going to receive if you go elsewhere.” —Ashley Berry

Berry said that part of customer service is opening up discussion about the products that they sell, everything from pressure cookers to cutlery, and making sure customers get the most out of their cooking experience.

“[We give] advice, whether they want to have a good, in-depth discussion about what the right choice for them would be before they actually purchase something,” she said.

Some of the services they provide are an espresso bar, free gift wrapping, and year-round cooking classes. With more than 20 chefs on the team, they have a plate full of specialties.

“If someone has people coming to town and they want to do something fun, they can [go to a class],” said Berry. “We will have people that come in [around] Thanksgiving or holidays and have never cooked a turkey or made gravy, so there’s a wide array of people that work here, and we have someone on staff who can help if there’s some kind of cooking panic.”

2210 Haines Ave.
Rapid City
Monday – Saturday 9 a.m. – 7 p.m. Sunday 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
(605) 341-5044

After studying hospitality management at South Dakota State University and working at campus catering, Kirsten Gjesdal saw a need in the Brookings community for a kitchen supply store. She opened the doors to Carrot Seed Kitchen Co. in 2015.

“I was really interested in getting more involved in our community and having a job that was very fulfilling, and fortunately, Brookings really needed a kitchen store,” said Gjesdal. “There weren’t many opportunities to shop for quality kitchen products before we opened.”

Carrot Seed recently moved to a new location in downtown Brookings. Gjesdal said that the change will allow for more space, but the kitchen still needs remodeling.

“The atmosphere of it is more of what we wanted to do and to be able to put our own touch on it. We are more than a kitchen store,” said Gjesdal. “One of our long-term goals is to put in a licensed incubator kitchen that other local entrepreneurs can rent to make their food for their businesses.”

Gjesdal said that Carrot Seed has helped customers by providing the tools necessary to cook, whether in the form of a cookbook or everyday kitchenware.

“We are a community resource where people can connect with their food and get in touch with local farmers and other local food, as well as a way to give to their community a little bit more and customer service.”
—Kirsten Gjesdal

“While you don’t need super fancy tools to cook, it makes things a heck of a lot easier when you have the right tools and ones that won’t fall apart or melt or last for longer than just a few months,” she said. “We also have a cookbook shop. Everybody’s cookbook shelf is usually overflowing, so we have a little shelf that’s kind of a take one, leave one system.”

Carrot Seed also sells local products such as meat, eggs, and cheese. They also have a seed-saving system. All of these services help boost the local economy, said Gjesdal.

“One thing we were able to change with the move is now we do offer more local gourmet food, so we now have about a 500 square-foot food section,” she said. “If you save your seeds and have leftovers in the spring, you can bring them in. We have a little box that we store seeds in, so you can swap with other people and get something fun growing in your garden.”

For more information, visit someonesinthekitchensd.com and carrotseedkitchen.com.

310 Main Ave.
Brookings
Monday – Friday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
(605) 592-9277