Jenn and Sieb Jurriaans started their restaurant businesses on South Whidbey with Prima Bistro in downtown Langley. Sieb was a chef in Seattle, but the Jurriaans decided to open their first restaurant business and make the move to Whidbey Island in 2006. Jenn says “We had a friend who encouraged us to explore the opportunity to open a restaurant in the Star Bistro space. When we met Gene and Tamar Felton and saw their space for a possible new restaurant in Langley, we couldn’t pass it up.”
In 2017, they were given the opportunity to open a new restaurant in the space that had been Café Langley, in Downtown Langley, and opened Saltwater Fish House and Oyster Bar. Cafe Langley had had been a popular restaurant in the community for 30 years before the Juriaans purchased it, and the Jurriaans were thrilled with the opportunity to fill the need of a Seafood restaurant in town.
Just over a year ago in January 2022, another opportunity presented itself when they were able to expand their bakery business and open another restaurant at Seabiscuit Bakery at the Mukilteo Coffee Roasters facility at 3228 Lake Leo Way in Langley. In March 2020, Gary Smith called Jenn and asked her if they would like to take over the bakery and café space next to Mukilteo Coffee Roasters. Jenn notes, “We were so honored to be asked to use this space to create our bakery business.”
The bakery originally started in the back of Saltwater, but with the new, larger location, the bakery business has expanded. Seabiscuit now supplies wholesale bread to Payless and Star Store. Seabiscuit is available to host events for up to 150 people. It also now offers Pizza Nights on Wednesdays, and Cocktail nights (for those 21 and over), offering cocktails and snacks, on Friday nights from 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.
Jenn says, “Each opportunity seemed to just land in our laps.” Jenn adds, “In addition to our two restaurants, we wanted to do a bakery for several years.” The opportunity to create a retail bakery was offered to them by Gary and Beth Smith, owners of Mukilteo Coffee Roasters. After several years of having a café adjacent to the coffee roasting operation, they wanted to focus on their coffee roasting business.
Their three locations currently employ nearly around 100 people to handle all aspects of the three businesses.
Along with running a busy bakery and cafe during the day, they have been hosting several private events including rehearsal dinners, memorials, birthdays, and a couple of high school reunions. They are already filling their calendar for spring and summer dates. Jenn adds, “Keep us in mind if you have an upcoming party.” For sit-down meals they can comfortably accommodate 45 people, and they offer a variety of family style dinners to choose from (Jenn says, “Our seafood boil was the most popular last summer”). Groups up to 150 can be accommodated with more appetizer-style parties. For more information about using Seabiscuit for your event, contact their event coordinator Hannah at info@lekkerlangley.com .
