New Hilltop bakery opens in space left by ill-fated Tacoma Baking Co. It’s got bagels
Once again, a bakery has risen in Hilltop.
Marie Price opened Proof Patisserie and Café in March, one year after her former employer, the failed Tacoma Baking Co., stopped selling baked goods from the same Tacoma address.
Last weekend, Proof hosted its grand opening celebration with raffles, a kids’ coloring contest and pop-ups from a couple of local micro-businesses.
Like its predecessor, Proof serves bagels constructed from the same machine sourced from the late Cascade Bagels in Lakewood. Varieties range from everything and sesame to pesto, pumpernickel and pizza, with flavored cream cheeses like salmon, sundried tomato and bacon-scallion. Staple pastries include scones and cinnamon rolls, and breads a sourdough boule, challah and focaccia. Espresso and coffee from Caffe d’Arte beans round out the menu.
Inside the café at 1316 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Proof presents an Instagrammable environment, with geometric tile, pink velvet chairs and marble tabletops. Visible from the street is a faux-flower wall with a hot pink neon sign that reads, “Do Epic Shit.”
That phrase was commonly heard from Price’s late partner Dontriel Daniel, who died unexpectedly in May due to health complications. A veteran who later studied interior design, he played an important role in creating the bakery retail space, Price said, and now she views continuing the business as a way to honor him.
Price studied pastry at South Puget Sound Community College, earning an associate’s degree in 2012. After working at several bakeries and restaurants in the region, she joined Bon Appetit Management Co., which services university and company kitchens, and spent several years at Pie Lab Bakery in Kent, which is now closed.
She moved to Tacoma in August 2019 to join Tacoma Baking Co. as a consultant. When that bakery opened in January 2020 — following four years of crowdfunding and millions of dollars from private investors — it quickly crumbled, as reports of mismanagement and bounced paychecks plagued the business. The company faced several lawsuits, including one brought by three part-owners and head bakers, and by summer was appointed a court receiver. A public auction held last September garnered $137,000, according to Kevin Hanchett of Resource Transition Consultants, the company that handled the case.
That same month, Price, who bought a handful of items in the auction, signed a lease for the same space.
When she first created an Instagram page for Proof last December, social media erupted with claims that she was nothing more than TBC reincarnate. She said she last spoke with Jessica DeVisser — the former bakery’s main owner and the person who completed all of the receivership paperwork according to Hanchett — in May 2020.
Some online commenters also speculated that Price had used the $310,000 granted to TBC through the Paycheck Protection Program to start her business. Per Hanchett, the PPP funds went through DeVisser and were quickly disbursed; there seemed to be no intention of seeking forgiveness for the low-interest loan, he said.
Price was considered a 5 percent owner of TBC, he confirmed. She says that stake was offered to her shortly after TBC opened in exchange for some short or missing paychecks; she never returned her proof of claim form to the receivership.
With 50 parties listed as claimants in the case, said the receiver, TBC carried more than $3.5 million in unsecured debt, $214,000 in secured debt, $207,000 in taxes and $102,000 of unpaid wages. The company was officially liquidated as of February 19, 2021.
“This vision for my bakery is not something that just started over the summer,” Price told The News Tribune in January.
Now she looks to a future with Proof, a place she hopes stands apart from the location’s defunct predecessor. It has hosted a handful of private events this summer and Price hopes it becomes an outlet for custom cakes and pastry orders.
“We are looking forward to celebrating with our community,” she said this week. “It is never too late to celebrate.”
PROOF PATISSERIE & CAFE
▪ 1316 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, prooftacoma.com (online ordering and delivery available)
▪ Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday-Sunday 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
▪ Details: bagels $2-$3 each, $8 for 6 for $15 a dozen; most sweets $2.50-$4.50; breads $4-$9
This story was originally published September 9, 2021 at 5:00 AM.