Kneaders in Ammon opening Friday morning

Staff at Kneaders were busy Wednesday getting the restaurant ready for its official opening Friday.

Kneaders in Ammon’s Sandcreek Commons shopping center has been serving customers in the the past few day through a soft opening and special events, but the actual opening is at 7 a.m. Friday. Free French toast — all you can eat — will be served to the first 100 customers (who will also receive t-shirts).

The restaurant is being managed by Bobbi Elliot, previously the food service manager at the Flying J Travel Stop near Interstate 15 Exit 113. The restaurant is 4,214 square feet, with a kitchen and serving area of 2,226 square feet and a seating area of 1,618 square feet. Occupancy for the entire restaurant is 143.

Kneaders dates back to 1997, when it was founded by Gary and Colleen Worthington. It specializes in European hearth breads made from scratch on site daily, as well as gourmet sandwiches, soups, salads, pastries and breakfast items. It also provides catering services for groups of all sizes, from birthday parties to weddings, and offers a variety of retail products including award-­winning gift baskets and holiday­-themed gifts.

So far, the company has more than 42 locations in Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Texas and Idaho, where it opened its first store in Meridian. Like many chains, there is a mix of franchise operations and company­ owned stores. The Ammon restaurant is company owned.

Eric Isom, chief development officer of Ball Ventures, the co­-developer of Sand Creek
Commons, said that when courting tenants for their projects they have sought a lot of input from locals. Because so many people travel from eastern Idaho to Utah, there has been a lot of interest in Kneaders. “It’s been one of the most common requests in the last two or three years,” he said.