Kelsey Lee, owner of Potluck Kitchenware Store in Ely, Minnesota, shares how her business navigated the challenges of wildfires, the unique culinary traditions of the Northwoods, and the importance of community and learning. Discover her insights on store curation, local culture, and must-have kitchen tools.
A few items mentioned in the Podcast available at POTLUCK
Pierogi Love and The Elements of Baking
Visit Ely, Minnesota for fun things to do year-round! Whether you are looking for a place to stay, a delicious meal, a hiking trail, or an immersion experience, we have businesses ready to meet your needs.
Original Transcript Follows:
Stephanie Hansen (00:01.176)
Hello everybody, welcome to Dishing with Stephanie’s Dish, the podcast where we talk to people in the food space. And today I’m with Kelsey Lee. She is the owner of Potluck Kitchenware Store. And Potluck is in Ely, Minnesota, which is my second home. And I’ve been doing a little mini-series to help people get familiar with some of the businesses that have been impacted by the wildfires this summer. The wildfires, as we currently stand, are in a high form of containment.
Smoke in the town has been virtually non existent and people are coming back to Ely, but it has been a dramatic turn in what was looking to be a great summer. Welcome to the program, Kelsey.
Kelsey Lee (00:41.088)
Thank you so much for having me on.
Stephanie Hansen (00:44.2)
What does it feel like when, you know, you’re starting out on your summer and July fourth has just happened and something that you couldn’t have predicted as a business owner, like a wildfire comes into town?
Kelsey Lee (00:50.389)
it feels like such a jolt and especially with wildfire there’s a there’s this sense of kind of unknown danger known but unknown danger and i this was the first summer of wildfires that were quite close to town during my time of owning the business the last time we had any a wildfire anywhere near potluck or elite large
I was an employee of Potluck. I wasn’t the owner. So I was making, I was sort of executing on decisions as opposed to making them myself. So, you know, your first thought is about air quality and evacuation zones and all of that. And then sort of secondarily you wonder if it means the end of the season. And for me this year, that was an especially weighty question because what I’ve seen over the last couple of years is that our what what
is commonly known as our summer season, actually extends quite far into the fall. I’ve seen growing sales numbers in September and October over the last couple of years. And so you really don’t want to see your season kind of come to a close when really it’s like just getting started. But I’m really happy to say that what I’ve seen is very much to the contrary. This so two weekends ago on what would have been our blueberry art festival
I saw huge numbers of people in town. I had amazing sales. I’ve talked to other business owners who had a similar experience. So it feels like our kind of recurring visitors and also our seasonal residents have really rallied to support Ely. and I personally am just so grateful for all of the messaging around Ely is open for business, like conditions here are safe, we welcome you, we encourage you to do your Christmas shopping. all of that
for in my case and the case of many of the retailers I’ve spoken to has just been incredibly successful.
Stephanie Hansen (02:59.584)
It’s kind of funny because I am a person that does a reverse commute. I my husband lives in Ely in the summer and I usually head there on Saturday in the afternoon and come home on like a Monday or a Tuesday. And the air quality in the Twin Cities has actually been worse than in Ely. So it’s it’s been a kind of a strange summer.
How hard is it? So you have a great selection of cookbooks. You really do a great job of curating. You’ve got all the cast iron things that one would expect at a kitchen store in the Northwoods, but you’ve also got beautiful dishware, some small appliances, all the cute funny towels and napkins and cocktail and entertaining things that you might use at the cabin. How do you curate the store?
With such a big percentage of folks being summer residents, does it change?
Think it’s a really interesting challenge. I actually love doing the buying for the store. I do it all myself because my market really exists as like three segments. And over the years of working here and then being an owner-operator, I’ve really gotten to know those segments by their general characteristics, but also individuals, right? So I’m getting feedback and product requests and things all the time. and so I think of my customer market as being comprised of seasonal residents. So people who come up for the summer, like you you have a s you have a second home, you have a second kitchen, you’re hosting, you’re cooking, you are really looking for anything you would be looking for at your main home in your kitchen, right? So like I’m I’m stocking a lot of the supplies that series cooks and bakers need on a regular basis. And then my second market are what I would say what I would call are are kind of like pass-through visitors or
Are guests of the seasonal residents. So these people, they’re looking for souvenirs, they’re looking for hostess gifts. For those folks, the size and weight of items is very, very important. People are looking for something to tuck into their luggage, or they’re looking for like a last-minute gadget or something to use on a boundary waters trip. So that’s maybe the most varied kind of use case scenario in that second group.
and then my third segment are my year-round residents. and their needs vary quite a bit as well. they comprise just a huge percentage of my holiday market, which has been great that we’ve brought in more holiday specific things, both decor, but really mainly all of the specialty holiday baking over the last few years. and the local market has just grown and grown as I’ve learned what people are making. and what they need in the kitchen around that time of year.
Stephanie Hansen (05:55.673)
What do you find are people making? Is it different than what you expected? Like are you, you know, is it bunt pans and cast iron or is it sourdough accessories and
Kelsey Lee (06:09.55)
Yeah, huge. I sell huge numbers of Benettons and LOMS and proofing containers and all of that for sourdough. Sourdough is big year-round, I think is really exciting to say. but what I find most exciting is that especially around the holidays, the cultural culinary traditions of this area really come alive. So people are asking for things for lefsa or
Sandbuckles or I’m sure I didn’t say that quite right. or petitsa, of course. and so it’s fun to try to as I’m accommodating those requests, learn about which families have which culinary heritage, you know, and over time you sort of learn like, yes, this family, they make leftsa on Black Friday or the Saturday or whatever. So we really have a surprising
range of not only wants, but really needs, you know, because many people in this area are making all of their bread from scratch. They’re making all of their yogurt. They are participating in, you know, a CSA or they’re taking like a butchering class at the folk school. And so the needs really vary, which just makes it exciting from a buying standpoint.
Stephanie Hansen (07:24.78)
I’ve been going to Ely for 35 years. and I can say that the culinary world there has expanded and changed, with the folk school certainly offering more classes, but also I think during COVID, a whole new type of person moved into Ely, younger folks, more families.
I have seen a lot more people coming from either coasts and coming for the water, the nature, and just the lovely changing of the seasons in Ely. Has that changed things for you or made it more interesting?
Kelsey Lee (08:03.153)
Yes, much more interesting.
And over the last year I’ve really solidified a partnership with the folk school in terms of not only sponsoring all of their nourishment program areas, but just increased communication with them about upcoming cooking classes. and this last spring we collaborated on a pie dough making workshop at one of the like spring women’s retreats at YMCA Camp du Nord up here. so I I
I see the folk school as being really a critical kind of partner for people, for me to grow awareness of my business, but also as far as preserving and sharing the culinary traditions of this area.
Stephanie Hansen (08:52.471)
The director of the folk school, Lucy, is my daughter’s WIDJI sister. They went on a a long camping adventure together and have been friends ever since, you know, when you are in the Arctic for 30 some days with someone, you really form a bond. And it’s been fun to watch Lucy and that folk school grow. And also the Duluth folk school is also growing. So just getting that awareness of, you know, that there’s a lot of things to do in the North Woods, even if you’re not a paddler necessarily.
Kelsey Lee (09:23.896)
Yes. Yes, absolutely. And I see the folk school as being like, you know, if if you’re gonna connect with one touch point for activities and and even community events in the Northwoods, I think the folk school is it. Absolutely. Yeah.
Stephanie Hansen (09:38.325)
It’s interesting too. You know, I’m part of the pickleball club in Ely that’s fairly new. There’s also the folk school. There are a ton of events that are happening through Ely Connect, which is geared more towards new residents. I really am impressed and excited about the future of Ely just for myself as I spend more time there. And maybe, you know, at some point I’ll
I don’t know, am I ever gonna retire? Probably not, but the ideas in my mind that I could and that there is a place that has such a rich learning path is really kind of fun.
Kelsey Lee (10:11.699)
Yes. my friends and collaborators at Boundary Waters Connect do a bunch of things. They connect with perspective and new residents. They host the Tuesday group series in town and they
very accurately characterize Ely as a super curious community. This is a place where people are very skilled. They’re sometimes quiet about the skills that they hold. But if you show genuine interest, people are more than happy to share with you the skills that they have acquired on their own, skills they learned through their family. It’s a place that is very fertile ground for non-competitive and intergenerational learning, which is really beautiful.
Stephanie Hansen (11:03.747)
There’s also a lot of diverse political beliefs in Ely that seem to exist side by side in a way that I’ve never seen anywhere else. You have people that have very intense passions about the boundary waters and wanting to prevent mining from going into the boundary waters. And then you also have a very robust community of people that believe that the prosperity of the town historically and potentially in the future is based on mining. And these two things seem to be able to coexist in this really small town of mutual respect and understanding for the most part. it it makes I think Ely so unique in that, you know, you could go and learn how to build a birch bark canoe next to someone that might be completely different than you ideologically.
But yet also your neighbor. And I love that that is how this community is fostering growth in learning and growth in how the town is growing. Are you have you experienced that as new people have come in?
Kelsey Lee (12:10.818)
Yes, absolutely. and I think that comes from it feels a little a little like old-fashioned neighborliness, which can sometimes swing in sort of a gossipy direction when we think about, you know, that small town living. And there’s always gonna be an element of that there. But really it comes in my experience, the respect and tolerance comes from a deep understanding that we all need each other.
Because of where we live, because of the seasonality of our economy, because our winters and even our summers can be very harsh in certain ways. we have a reliance on our neighbors. And we need those relationships, you know, to look out for not only ourselves but also our community. yeah.
Stephanie Hansen (13:00.373)
Yeah. I you do get that sense of, you know, like I’ve been there w in the wintertime when, you know, you get a foot and a half of snow and you need your neighbor to plow you out and you’re standing at the end of the driveway as someone comes by with a plow and you’re like, Hey, can you help me out? Or your car gets stranded or
Kelsey Lee (13:17.949)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And people are more than willing to help. It is this is the first place I have lived with that kind of
that kind of neighborliness and it is I’ll be honest it can be a little foreign and a little like suspicious at first. so a story I like to tell is when my husband and I moved to Ely as we were and I don’t know how this came about at all. To this day I have no idea. But I have a lovely neighbor named Alana. She somehow found out not only
the day that we were arriving, like moving into our house, but also roughly the time that we were arriving. And as we pulled into our garage, she was standing in the yard with the neighbor from the other side and they were there ready to greet us. and if you’re moving from a big city or you’ve never experienced that before, it feels really odd and it feels like people are surveilling you or you’re you know whatever. but really it comes from that kind of old fashioned spirit of like we want to welcome you, we want to know who you are, because we want to immediately have this sort of neighborly relationship with you. so that that stories like that prevail all over town.
Stephanie Hansen (14:40.599)
Yeah, I would agree with that. All right. So since you’re the kitchen expert, I have to ask you some kitchenware things. could you tell me three things that you’re excited about in the store for cooks?
Kelsey Lee (14:55.008)
Yes, absolutely. I actually have I have a little cart here of products that I really want to show. so the first and this one is geared a little towards people who like are in a cabin, are on the go, you know, s have are space limited in their house. I’m really proud to say that as of a couple of months ago, Potla Kitchenware is a retailer for Vitamix, which is a fantastic brand, of course.
This is their five-speed immersion blender. What I love about this is this will blend ice for you. This will do anything that a normal blender will do. It’s not just for soups, it’s not just for mashed potatoes. this is a workhorse in the kitchen and it it weighs quite a bit for an immersion blender, but it takes up virtually no room compared to your standard kind of countertop blender. so the the larger point I want to make with this is that.
to get the power that you need, you don’t always need the appliance with the biggest footprint. Especially when you’re when you’re looking at a quality brand like Vitamix. So this one I love. Absolutely, yes. And that’s part of my something I’m managing always is either somebody is in one of the many houses in Ely with teeny tiny kitchens or they’re in a cabin or they’re in a travel trailer or whatever. So space is always at a premium for my customers here at the store.
Yeah, and in a small space.
Stephanie Hansen (16:21.251)
Right, so that’s a great recommendation. I didn’t even know they had an immersion blender.
Kelsey Lee (16:24.988)
It’s fantastic. Yes, yes, yes. another thing that I love is this, which is a really odd. This is an odd looking thing. this is one of many high-functioning, colorful, bizarre looking tools from a company called Dream Farm. They are based in Australia. They are next level when it comes to the functionality of kitchen tools.
They all have weird names and they all look really weird, but they’re fantastic. So this is their chopping spatula. The flexibility here is wonderful. This is what you want to use to get under eggs, under pancakes. it’s designed to sit on the counter like this, so it’s never gonna get your counter dirty. simplifies cleanup, and then this offset chopping edge you can use for like chopping ground beef in a skillet as you’re cooking.
it’s designed to give you that kind of cutting edge as well. so this is just one of many just fantastic designs from Dream Farm. so if you’re if you’re looking for something that’s not only like beautiful to look at in the kitchen, but also gonna give you added functionality, Dream Farm is a a brand that I love.
Stephanie Hansen (17:41.131)
It almost looks too like you could use it as like a what is that thing called when you’re making sourdough and you’re trying to get in and underneath the bread?
Kelsey Lee (17:49.165)
yeah yeah like a bench a bench scraper maybe. Yeah yeah it’s it’s flexible enough but also firm enough. I think you totally could. Yeah, yeah. Just kind of get get your dough started. Yeah, absolutely. yeah. And then you asked about things for cooks. So I am gonna show you this. So this is from Dubouillet, which is a French cookware manufacturer.
This is carbon steel, but this is kind of carbon steel meant for the every person. This is lower maintenance carbon steel. carbon steel is very much like cast iron in the sense that you typically have to establish and then maintain a layer of seasoning on carbon steel cookware. This one is from their blue carbon line. This one they heat treat at the factory. so you don’t have that seasoning maintenance for this. This you exactly.
Stephanie Hansen (18:45.539)
People will love that.
Kelsey Lee (18:47.007)
You use this right away. lower maintenance. And my favorite thing about this line, given where we’re located, is this you can use over a campfire. And it’s comparatively much lighter than carbon steel pans typically are. So this is great for a canoe trip. You just get one of the larger pans, it’s like you cook everything in it, safe to use over a campfire, cleans up super well. So I’ve been really thrilled to bring in
Stephanie Hansen (19:06.262)
Love it.
Kelsey Lee (19:16.094)
Not only the standard carbon steel, but also the blue from WA. Yeah.
Stephanie Hansen (19:20.941)
Okay, I like that and I’m always looking for the best nonstick pans because I do use my cast iron as a nonstick pan, but sometimes when you’re doing eggs you want something a little different.
Kelsey Lee (19:31.421)
Yes, yes, yes. And carbon steel, we’re predominantly a cast iron household, simply because cast iron lasts forever and we haven’t had a reason to upgrade to carbon steel, but carbon steel is just it’s it’s a smoothness that like you really don’t find with most modern cast iron. it’s just a fantastic cooking surface. Yeah.
Stephanie Hansen (19:52.601)
Okay, since I know you have a cart there, let’s do two more. Do you have two more things?
Kelsey Lee (19:56.559)
Yes, do you want things for cooks or do you want things for the home? Okay, perfect. so let’s see. one so one little thing that I want to share as like a shout out to bakers. so this is the Danish dough whisk from King Arthur Baking. It’s a triple loop, which some people look for. There’s a whole debate out there about how many loops you want in your dough whisk. this one I want to showcase because
I have been just thrilled that King Arthur is once again offering their their baking products, not their flowers, not their baking mixes, but their actual baking tools. They’ve recently made those available at wholesale. And that’s a big deal because they had a huge wholesale program prior to COVID, and then they suspended wholesale operations during COVID, and it’s been several years without.
that we haven’t been able to obtain these baking tools here at the store. So when I saw that they were available once again, I was just just so so happy. Yes. So King Arthur makes a fantastic cookie scoop and dough whisk and pastry brush and just a lot of those baking essentials. in addition to wonderful, wonderful cookbooks as well. They’re a go-to resource there too. yes. So that one I’m happy to showcase. And then
Stephanie Hansen (21:14.253)
Great.
Kelsey Lee (21:18.25)
I also want to show the very trendy, but appropriately so. These are geometry towels. these are made from entirely from recycled plastic water bottles. so a very sustainable choice. This is their, I’m gonna show you dimensionally. This is their kitchen towel. It’s it’s huge. It’s 18 by 30. It is
Stephanie Hansen (21:40.333)
Yeah, it’s huge.
Kelsey Lee (21:44.328)
incredibly absorbent of both liquid and dust. I use these here at the store to dust, just incredibly grippy no matter what you’re trying to clean up with them. and Geometry continues to partner with artists and designers. So they always have new capsule collections coming out and they are just so design forward. They’re light years ahead of all any other textile brand on the market. yes. So I love it. You’ve given me some things to come in and check out next week.
Kelsey Lee (22:15.817)
yes, yes, yes, yes. And they they have seasonal collections too, so they make great gifts. and they’ve recently unveiled table linens as well. table runners, placemats, all of those. Yes, yes.
Stephanie Hansen (22:27.188)
cute. Okay, before we leave, I’m gonna ask you for two cookbooks that you’re excited about because I know you’ve curated a lot of great cookbooks in the store.
Kelsey Lee (22:38.448)
Yeah. you’ll have to forgive me. I’m gonna turn around a little and just take a look. ooh, yes, so the first one is a very easy choice. This one is called The Elements of Baking by Katerina Sirmelsch. I’m sure I booked that. Apologies. Apologies, apologies. So this gives you for bakers, you know, bakers are like
That’s a very formula and sort of accuracy driven endeavor. And this gives you the formulas and tables that you need to make any recipe gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, or vegan. It is, yes. It is, it’s a bit of a tome. I mean it’s like it is a thick for sure. But this is just a page of photos of breaking down lumpy versus smooth pancake pattern.
Stephanie Hansen (23:20.877)
Wow. Okay. That’s helpful.
Stephanie Hansen (23:27.681)
Yeah, it’s a resource book.
Kelsey Lee (23:36.43)
You can see they give you a side-by-side. so if you’re somebody who is a trying to accommodate, trying to get away from recipes while accommodating gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, or or vegan eaters in your household or you yourself, I think this is a great resource to build that knowledge base to then be able to adapt any recipe yourself moving forward.
Stephanie Hansen (23:58.337)
I love it. All right, let’s go for one more cookbook and then we’ll wrap it up.
Kelsey Lee (24:03.287)
Perfect. what I want to go for here. So this maybe seems like an odd choice. so it’s pierogi love. Getting back to like you know culinary traditions. This one I brought into the store just to kind of round out my hand pie dumpling offering. And just this summer I think I’ve probably sold almost two dozen copies. People just love there’s something about a pierogi.
so I love this one because it’s not gonna take up a lot of space on your shelf, but you just get such a range of recipes in here. you have a photo for every recipe. and I just love the idea of like putting a ruben in a in a pierobi. You just you know you you take something, something large, something unexpected, put it in one of these, it’s just a delight. So
Stephanie Hansen (24:58.381)
The more diversity I’ve explored in the kitchen through the television show that I’m working on, I’ve realized like every culture has a hand pie, every culture has like a flatbread of something. It’s it’s very interesting when you start to just meet with people and how they all make their specialties from their heritage, but that how they’re all sort of linked also.
Kelsey Lee (25:06.238)
Yes. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I l I love that something as delightful as a flatbread or a hand pie is like truly a thread that unites all of us.
Stephanie Hansen (25:32.259)
For sure. And that sort of wraps up what we’ve been talking about, which is community and learning about your neighbors and supporting your neighbors. Kelsey, are you online for people to shop your store?
Kelsey Lee (25:45.063)
We are online. We’re not yet doing sales online. we actually just yesterday launched a a very beta version of our website, so you can find us at potluckkitchenware.com. our hope is to have at least gift card sales online in time for this upcoming holiday season. so you can find us online there. We are also on Facebook and on TikTok.
Stephanie Hansen (26:10.677)
Okay, we will make sure to follow you. Thanks for spending time with me today. You guys, please visit Ely. You can find a lot of information about Ely businesses at visitealiemn.org. they’ve got a whole list of all the businesses in town, events and Harvest Moon Festival is coming up in September. That’s a big event for the retailers and for folks to come to town in September. I’ll be looking forward to that. Kelsey, thanks for your time today.
Kelsey Lee (26:37.283)
Yes. Thank you so much, Stephanie. It was great to be with.
Stephanie Hansen (26:41.197)
All right, we’ll talk soon. Okay, bye bye.
