Restaurateur opens first restaurant with Breakfast in Bed by LaCole in Highland Square

LaCole Suddeth always knew she wanted to own a dine-in restaurant. She just didn’t know how to do it.

After years of running Breakfast and Bed by LaCole as a delivery and catering business, she finally has her own restaurant of the same name at 183 S. Portage Path in West Akron.

Breakfast in Bed by LaCole had its official grand opening April 25 in the century-old building at South Portage Path and Dodge Avenue in Highland Square, which opened in 1913 as Acme Store No. 22 with an attached drug store.

More recently, the building housed a convenience store that sold drinks and roast chicken in the front and a dry cleaners in the rear, both dating back more than 55 years. Suk and Kevin Hastings, who had owned the building for about a decade and operated the dry cleaners, closed it in July and are renting the space to a couple who are expected to run it as a private club, said their daughter, Alison Kruse.

After Portage Service Broasted Chicken closed in March 2023, Kruse offered family friend Suddeth the opportunity to lease the former convenience store space for her restaurant. In April, Suddeth was renovating the space.

“I really wanted this, and I want a lot more,” Suddeth said of running a breakfast cafe.

“It was a lot of preparation,” said the restaurateur, who purchased all the equipment to start her restaurant.

It took about a year to get all the funding and permits secured, which required a lot of patience, Suddeth said.

“(Suddeth) knew we really wanted someone who was really going to run the place,” said Kruse, who, like Suddeth, attended culinary school.

Suddeth came up with the idea for a breakfast delivery business while she was pregnant with her youngest of three sons, who is now 10 years old. At the time, she was lying in bed wondering why no one was delivering her breakfast.

Today, her 10-year-old son Sabieontae Odums is her assistant at her new restaurant, even wearing a T-shirt saying “The Breakfast Lady Son.” He recently celebrated his 10th birthday at his mother’s restaurant, where his guests took a cooking class, making Mexican spring rolls for Cinco de Mayo and going home with chef’s hats and aprons.

Suddeth, who grew up in Green and went to Buchtel High School, lives in Goodyear Heights in Akron. His eldest sons are 12 and 16 years old.

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Suddeth’s story with Breakfast in Bed

Suddeth grew up learning to cook Southern staples from her mother, who she said was an excellent cook.

Suddeth operated Akron Food Works’ Breakfast in Bed at Well CDC in 2020, then worked in the kitchen with Smack Yo Mama from 2021 to 2022 before returning to Akron Food Works in 2023.

One of their popular dishes is their French Toast Cookies, made with freshly baked biscuits, put in the dough and fried on the griddle. She finishes them with cinnamon, sugar and liquid butter.

What is the secret of this popular dish?

“Cooking it with love. That’s it,” the restaurant owner said.

At Breakfast in Bed by LaCole, guests order their food at the counter. The restaurant can accommodate 23 people spread across four-top tables, high tables for two and a five-seat counter.

Suddeth said word of mouth has brought diners to his restaurant since its grand opening. Many people dine in and Suddeth still does a lot of takeout.

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Guests talk about their favorites at Breakfast in Bed

Customer Rick Allen, visiting Wednesday for breakfast with his daughter, Brenae, said he sometimes sees lines inside Suddeth Restaurant, which is a one-man kitchen business. Tuesday morning he ordered shrimp and grits, and Brenae ordered the Big Breakfast Meal.

“I recommend everything here,” Allen said of the menu.

Portions are very generous at Breakfast in Bed, with huge pancakes included in the Big Breakfast Meal, plus two pieces of bacon, two sausages from Duma Meats in Mogadore, home fries, grits and cheesy eggs for 17 $.50.

Meal prices range from a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich for $8.50 to a crab cake meal with cheesy eggs, French toast, home fries and grits for $25.50 . Another great meal is the steak omelette, made with rib-eye, collard greens cooked with turkey, grape tomatoes and cheese, and served with golden biscuits, home fries and grits for 15.50 $.

The other ingredients in collard greens are Suddeth’s mother’s secret ingredients that only Suddeth knows, she said.

Another interesting menu choice is the BK roll, which is a breakfast eggroll with steak, egg, cheese, collard greens, onions and peppers with cheese and a special sauce on top. They cost $10 for two or $13.50 served with home fries and cheesy eggs.

“I love cooking and I love people’s reaction when I make food,” Suddeth said.

The restaurateur, who continues to do catering, reaches out to the community with her food in other ways. Through a nonprofit she started called No Worries, It’s on God, she provides four trays of food to families who have lost a loved one within weeks of death, while meal assistance s is generally calmed down.

Arts and food writer Kerry Clawson can be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

Details

Restaurant: Breakfast in Bed by LaCole

Address: 183 S. Portage Road, Akron

Hours: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday from June 10

Phone: 330-809-9126

Perform? Yes. Order by phone or in person.

Information: See Breakfast in Bed by LaCole Suddeth on Facebook, breakfast_by_coke on Instagram

This article originally appeared in the Akron Beacon Journal: New restaurant Breakfast in Bed by LaCole is open in Akron’s Highland Square.