Business owner Irena Bogoslavets remembers when she used to bake desserts — a variety of cakes and treats — at home and accept customer orders for them.
“I knew my dream was to open a coffee shop and have desserts and coffee, but we were looking for something very small on Alii Drive,” she says.
“For the longest time, we were unable to find anything,” adds her husband, TJ. “We come from a Christian background, so I told her, ‘When the time is right, God will provide.’
“I received a phone call and the real estate (agent) told me, ‘We have a Salvation Army that closed down; are you afraid of taking a big space?’” he remembers. “‘I said, ‘It all depends; we’ll pray about it.’ When we got here to look at the place, I told Irena, ‘If this is from the Lord, we’ll get this place this Friday. It was Monday; sure enough, on Friday, we got the keys.”
Fast forward three years — Arise Kona Bakery & Café celebrated its third anniversary last October. The couple’s heart in opening a café was to offer a welcoming space for the community, according to TJ.
“Our heart is to serve people,” he says. “We’ve just been seeing blessings through serving people; it’s had an impact on families, bringing the good message, the Gospel.”
The business’s name stems from part of a Bible verse in Isaiah, according to Irena.
“Isaiah 60 says, ‘Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you,’” she says. “You’re called to action, to do something. My idea was to have this pace to be used for the Lord. I see YWAM (Youth With A Mission) students come in; it makes me happy when I see them with their Bibles. I see people that come in for prayer groups, and they get to enjoy that together with good coffee and good food.
“It’s not like I just wanted to start a business for the money,” she adds. “I wanted to do something for the community, to be a delight to people around us.”
The bakery/café is especially popular for its sourdough. Baking sourdough is something Irena started during the Covid-19 pandemic; she learned to make it from a friend who “is a professional at sourdough.”
“I’ve learned more lessons from her,” Irena says. “We have people who just come here for the bread. This is probably the only place in Kona that makes sourdough here on the spot; we use a starter.”
Customers can buy breads, or enjoy them in sandwiches like chicken bacon open toast ($13), salmon open toast ($16) and turkey BLT ($16).
The bakery’s pastries — especially the brioche-based ones — are also customer favorites. Having high-quality products made with premium ingredients is essential, according to Irena, who says they get fruits from the local farmers at the farmers markets when possible.
“Our desserts are European-style,” Irena explains. “Our brioche is like a soft pastry that we do with different fillings. We sell out (of those) very quickly, probably by noon. People love the tropical flavors, like mango and guava.”
“Our brioche is baked fresh every morning,” she adds. “We make our cakes fresh every morning. I want to make sure the excellence is great in the cakes and brioches."
The bakery menu is extensive, but popular options include lilikoʻi tarts ($5) and choc-chip cakestacks ($5). There are also savory pastries like cheddar bacon brioche ($7).
Last summer, the Bogoslavetses renovated the café’s interior to touch up the paint and updated its upstairs seating.
“We built some seating upstairs that’s more comfortable and more open,” Irena says. “Upstairs is for adults only; it’s a quieter area where people can sit, do their office work or study.”
There’s also a prayer wall to serve the community, according to TJ.
“You’ll see some scriptures on the walls and we have a prayer wall, too,” he says. “Every morning before opening, all our staff get together and pray for everyone that’s going to come in. We pray, ‘Lord, if someone is coming with a broken heart or going through some hard season in their life, touch them with your spirit.’”
“The main thing is to be a delight to everyone who comes in here, and to make somebody’s day,” Irena adds.
Besides pastries and sandwiches, the café also features coffee, teas and smoothies. Keep an eye out for seasonal specials; Valentine’s Day drinks — including matcha made in heaven ($7-$8), sweetheart smoothie ($8) and “bee mine” honey rose latte ($7-$8) — are currently available.
While Irena continues to surprise customers with new desserts — “She’s got a ton more recipes that customers have not been introduced to,” TJ says — the couple continues to emphasize its community and look for ways to better serve customers.
“We want the families to be here with the kids,” TJ says. “It’s been a good run; it’s been a blessing for all of us.”
CONTACT
Arise Kona Bakery & Café
74-5555 Kaiwi St. Ste. F2-3, Kailua-Kona
arisekonabakeryandcafe.com
Instagram: @arisekonabakeryandcafe
Open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays to Fridays, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays; walk-ups only from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays
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Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
