POULSBO — After a decade working at a pizzeria, sisters Kristin Brown and Sara Nance decided the time was right to do some baking of their own.

With Brown’s son, Jake, providing the necessary inspiration and motivation, the pair opened Baby Jake’s Pizza on Jensen Way in late December 2005.

“She and I had worked together for about 10 years at another pizza parlor, and we wanted to try it ourselves,” Brown said.

The birth of her son in 2004 made opening their own restaurant a higher priority than it had ever been before, she said.

“We felt like it was time to get more serious, and we were just looking for something in Kitsap County,” she said.

When Pizza Prima closed its doors in the fall of 2005, Brown and Nance seized the opportunity and set about making the restaurant their own.

“It wasn’t set up the way we liked and we wanted to make it our own,” Brown said.

With help from their father, who does remodeling and construction, the pair changed the lighting, painted the walls and added their own personal flavor to the restaurant, she said.

When it came to naming the pizzeria, Brown said several ideas were tossed around before landing on Baby Jake’s.

“It just fit and he’s my inspiration and my motivation as well,” she said.

Even though they wanted to put their own ingredients into the restaurant, Brown said they also wanted to keep some of the familiarity from the former owners as well.

“We took part of the old menu and kept some sandwiches and wraps,” she said. “We also added a couple of things of our own that we created.”

In maintaining slices of the past, several employees, who worked at Pizza Prima, decided to remain, she said.

“They really helped us out when we first opened,” she said.

When it comes to the perfect pizza, Brown said the house special ranks right near the top.

“We’ve gotten a lot of compliments on it and our next would be our meat pizza,” she said.

The house special is loaded with pepperoni, sausage, ham, onion, mushroom, black olives and extra cheese, and the meat lover’s pizza is a union of pepperoni, sausage, ham, bacon and extra cheese.

That’s not to say that the pair caters only to carnivores, there’s also a gourmet veggie pizza, which has also sold well, she said.

The pizza has plentiful amounts of artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, green onions, and Gorgonzola cheese.

Every pizza is made with fresh ingredients and the dough is made daily as well.

“We’re doing better than we expected at this time, and we deliver where other places won’t,” she said.

Baby Jake’s delivers to Hood Canal, Kingston, Indianola, Suquamish and even Silverdale, she said.

“People love it if they can get a pizza delivered,” Brown said.

Baby Jake’s is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Orders can be placed by calling (360) 697-3400. The menu is also online at www.babyjakespizza.com.