Marg’s Bakery & Kitchen: One-stop shop for sweet, savory

Marg’s Bakery & Kitchen is open from Monday to Friday, 7am-4:30pm, and Saturdays, 7am-4pm, and is located across Mt. Carmel Church in Susupe. (Mark Rabago)

It’s never too late buy Christmas cookies and fruit cake for the holidays and one place those are readily available is Marg’s Bakery & Kitchen in Susupe.

Owner Jeffrey Castelo said Marg’s Bakery & Kitchen is your go-to place for your Christmas-themed pastries. “Right now we are not doing any package promotions, but we do have Christmas cookies, fruit cakes, pies, and of course cakes available for everyone to buy and enjoy for the holiday season,” he said.

Named after original owner Margaret Tudela, Marg’s Bakery & Kitchen first opened in 1987 and has become a veritable “one-stop shop for people who crave for sweet and savory treats or just those who want to quench their thirst with different varieties of pastries, lunch bentos, and drinks…we’re widely known for our pastries, different flavored cakes, and our fresh ice-cold lemonade,” he said.

Like other businesses on-island, Marg’s Bakery & Kitchen was affected in many ways by the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, they had to limit store hours and at some point even closed for a period of time because of the earlier community cases the CNMI had.

“The safety of our customers as well as our own workers is our priority. More so, even after establishments were allowed to operate, the concerns of the community could not be eliminated, but as days passed by people gained confidence to go out and in return costumers started to come in, it’s not as well as how it was before the pandemic but we’re thankful,” said Castelo.

Marg’s Bakery & Kitchen first opened in 1987 and has become a veritable one-stop shop for people who crave for sweet and savory treats. (Mark Rabago)

As far as following the guidelines set by the Governor’s COVID-19 Task Force, Marg’s Bakery & Kitchen is in lock-step. “We followed standard protocols when it comes to social distancing, allowing maximum of 5-6 costumers at a time inside the store, and wearing of mask for both costumers entering the store as well as our staff. We also do proper hand-sanitizing and have hand sanitizers available for people to use.”

Castelo added he hopes Marg’s Bakery & Kitchen will continue to serve the community as best as it can moving forward, especially after COVID-19. “We are planning to maintain the quality of our products for our consumers to enjoy, and hopefully improve the ones that needs improvements, as well as the facility itself to maintain cleanliness.”

He also thanked all loyal patrons of Marg’s Bakery & Kitchen the past 33 years. “We would like to thank everyone who have supported us through the years especially even during the hard times, for choosing us to serve you and meet your cravings. We promise to do our best to serve you better and we hope and pray that everyone will be safe as the year ends, Although it wasn’t the best year for everyone, but together we can push through and we can only look forward to what is next.”

Marg’s Bakery & Kitchen is open from Monday to Friday, 7am-4:30pm, and Saturdays, 7am-4pm, and is located across Mt. Carmel Church in Susupe. For more information or for advance orders, call 234-1229.