New Bakery in Town Ending Name-Change Contest This Weekend

What's in a name — of your own bakery? For Olga Lampcov, frankly, not much.

When she opened her first "mom-and-pop" shop in Berkley two years ago, naming her delectable dishes Olga's Creations came as an afterthought. But when the business moved to its in September, she and her husband, Marc Lampcov, who co-own the thriving shop, were sent a letter informing them of a trademark infringement from the Michigan diner chain and new neighbor, .

"The way it started was that I would be taking pictures of what she was baking — cakes, cookies — post them to Facebook and write, 'Look at Olga's latest creation,' " Marc Lampcov said of his wife's time as an amateur. "People would reply, 'I can't wait to see Olga's latest creation!' "

"It just stuck," continued Olga, who lives in West Bloomfield with her husband and two children. "I didn’t even like it. But when we sat down and asked people what we should name the company, they said, 'Why don't you just keep it Olga's Creations?' "

The Lampcovs said that by the time they had moved out of the small, private catering kitchen in Wixom and into the Butterfly Bake Shoppe of Berkley in 2009, they had never considered the possibility of trademark infringement. However, they added that the shade of orange color used in their logo and the typeface they used to spell her name were unlike anything used by Olga's Kitchen, so they decided to keep their name. There is no Olga's Kitchen outlet in Berkley; the nearest is in Lathrup Village, about three miles away.

"Never once did anyone confuse us," said Marc Lampcov, 40, a lifelong West Bloomfield Township resident. "Never had any mail from Olga's Kitchen, nothing. It never occurred to me, and I grew up in Michigan."

Meanwhile, Olga's Creations was busy building a brand. In its Berkley location across the street from the popular bagel shop , Olga's carved a niche of its own, selling sweets in a retail capacity as well as wholesale cakes, including many wedding and bar and bat mitzvah cakes.

"We had 700 Facebook fans (in 2009) ... you can't change your (page) name on Facebook," Olga said. "My name isn't Rebecca, it's Olga — it's something you don't see every day."

The Lampcovs are making the best of the awkward situation. Even though they've spent several thousand dollars on "brand recognition," including watermarks for photographs used to showcase their wares online, a website domain address and the large, orange sign that adorns their much-larger shop in West Bloomfield (where they moved in order to maximize their wholesale business potential), they agree that Olga's Kitchen is being reasonable with its demand.

"I wouldn't want to see Inga's Kitchen move in next door, so we understand. The timing is just tough," Marc said.

In fact, representatives of Olga's Kitchen allowed the Lampcovs to have a contest on their Facebook page to ask their fans to choose a name. The winner will be chosen by the Lampcovs and must clear all rights and trademark laws. The contest ends this weekend with a prize yet to be determined.

The attorney defending their case and negotiating the terms of the agreement is, naturally, a customer, who agreed to handle the case for free after trying their goods for the first time.

Olga's incredible story

Although it may be difficult for her Facebook fans — 1,908 strong at this writing — to believe, Olga is relatively new to the kitchen. She moved to the United States from Moscow 15 years ago as a 26-year-old Jewish refugee with a university degree in power station and railroad engineering. She then met Marc, who said that his wife always had an innate artistic talent.

But her talent in the kitchen never became apparent until she married Marc and became a mother. She said that for their son's third birthday party in June 2009, Olga got the idea of what he really wanted and set about to fulfill his desire for a Thomas the Tank engine-designed fondant cake. Marc was not enthused.

"I was ready to get on the phone with , like, how fast can you make a custom cake for a birthday party of 10?" he remembered. "She was just a mother who wanted to something extra-special for her son, but it was very ambitious."

However, he said he was shellshocked by the incredibly delicious and attractive result. Since June is a busy month for birthdays in their family, he said, Olga got back in the kitchen to pump out new creations.

"It just snowballed," Marc said. "We got some space in Wixom, and she was working from the kitchen of a private catering company."

But with their desire to sell retail and wholesale at the same time, they quickly outgrew that space. Then after two profitable years in Berkley, the Lampcovs desired their own, larger kitchen, and a place closer to home won out. They moved into the renovated space in West Bloomfield in September.

"She didn't really want the downtown feel — the bakery where you come in, get something, and get out. She wanted a community bakery, and we always wanted to do coffee as well," Marc said. "We also do a lot of weddings, some for upscale clientele, and you want to be able to sit down with someone to consult on what they're about to sink their money into."

"It's a dream to have your name up in lights," Olga said. "That's when you feel like you have your own business — it's finally yours."

The Lampcovs' brand of sweets, their bagels and Great Lakes-brand coffee has drawn a growing clientele to their new location at 2065 Walnut Lake Rd., just west of Inkster Road. In addition, they still see plenty of their old friends from Berkley and Huntington Woods.

"Some people don't want to fight Orchard Lake Road traffic just to get a bagel, so they come to us," Marc said. "... On the wholesale side, if we do one bar mitzvah for a family, we'll usually do their younger brother when it comes up."

Olga's Creations is open from 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday. For more information on Olga's Creations, visit its website at olgascreations.com or call 248-686-3357.