Zeke and Elaine Zelker launched Zekraft as a meal delivery service during the pandemic, prioritizing high-quality, locally sourced ingredients. Now, they're about to open their third brick-and-mortar cafe location in the Valley.
Zeke & Elaine Zelker
Owners
Tell us about the journey to launching Zekraft and how it's evolved to cafe locations across the Valley.
We started Zekraft during the pandemic by offering high-quality meals using locally sourced ingredients for home meal delivery, which we still do. We tested the market by offering our salads, soups and desserts at the Easton Farmers' Market and, thankfully, we were well received. We decided to open our first location in the middle of the Valley, choosing Bethlehem. At our cafes, we do everything from scratch—the sauces and syrups for our organic fair-trade coffee, chai, pastry, tartines, salads and more.
Following your first location in Southside Bethlehem, what inspired you to open another location at the Silk Mill?
Elaine and I were the first tenants at Silk where we opened our studios, which we still have. We love the community there and love how VM transformed the place. Gretchen and Mark from VM asked us if we would be interested in a space that was coming available and we jumped on it.
Locals can expect a third location coming this fall; tell us about that!
Our third location will be in Allentown off of Cedar Crest Boulevard across from Lehigh Valley Health Network. We're building our central kitchen there and we'll have a liquor license. We're experimenting with some cool ideas for our drink offerings. This location is where we'll try out new menu items.
How have your food and drink offerings evolved since initially launching as a catering and meal delivery service?
We've been thrilled on how people have responded to what we're doing, offering higher quality and more healthful options. We change our menu based on what farmers have available and we welcome people to come in and taste the difference.
What are some fan-favorite food and drink offerings?
Some of the crowd favorites have been our smoked turkey, brie and spicy raspberry tartine, the Thai peanut chicken salad, our lavender chai and our pop tarts (our flavors change weekly based on what we can get from local farmers).
Tell us how Zekraft prioritizes healthy options through its fresh, organic and fair-trade offerings.
We're inspired by local farmers throughout the Lehigh Valley and we plan our menus accordingly using organic and local ingredients when possible. We adjust our recipes, substituting items for more healthful options.
Locals can also find Zekraft at Valley farmers' markets. Tell us why that is important to you!
We love working with farmers and using their produce in our salads and promoting them. We love our customers and the camaraderie at the markets. We get direct response on what's working and what's not.
1247 Simon Blvd. Unit N107, Easton | 306 S. New St., Bethlehem | zekraft.com
Published as "Get the Goods" in the October 2022 edition of Lehigh Valley Style magazine.
