02/07/2025
We have exciting, yet bittersweet, news to announce! This is going to be a lengthy post, and we apologize in advance.
Shana Cake will have new owners at the end of February, and will become Sweet Freedom Bakery. Kenzi, Chloe, and Derek have been amazing customers, that have become friends, and honestly, often feel like family. As with so many of our customers, we have had the unique privilege of celebrating a few of their life events, from Stella’s birthdays to seeing Huxley when he was a little “baby bump”. When you have the honor of preparing treats that families cherish for their special occasions in life, they indeed feel like extended family. When a new baby is being celebrated, you share in their joy, and are honored when they return to order items to celebrate a first birthday. We are so grateful to know them and to have been a small part of their lives, and we are really excited to introduce them to all of you.
We honestly don’t know where to begin with thank you’s, so we will start in chronological order. Shana Cake began its chapter in our life by being present in the store and witnessing the amazing gratitude and appreciation the customers displayed. Honestly, anyone that has been in customer service for any length of time knows, having positive interactions with the vast majority of customers, and them thanking you so sincerely for what you mean to them and their life, isn’t to be taken for granted, as it just isn’t common. We were a little surprised by the outpouring of gratitude, and knew we wanted to do whatever we could to ensure the service remained. We honestly don’t have words to express our own gratitude for all of you! We have become a part of your family, and you have become a part of ours. You have offered words of encouragement when we faced difficult times in our life, including the death of a beloved family member, Aunt Mary. You have been understanding when our schedules needed to shift to be more available for our family to face new roles. You have invited us to make items to celebrate your bridal shower, followed by making the wedding cake, a gender reveal cake, a baby shower cake, first birthday cake and cupcakes, and an additional gender reveal cake. You have trusted us to make a cake that was safe for all of your guests to enjoy, and hopefully added a little beauty to your day. You invited us to celebrate your child’s first birthday, where you chose the theme, and we have been delighted to continue celebrating each birthday and watch as they grow to choose their own theme, whether it was race cars or unicorns. You may have come in every week to treat youself over the weekend. We may have only seen you once a year when a family member visited that needed allergy friendly baked goods, or when a child in class needed an allergy friendly treat, we appreciate your trust in us to provide that for you. We served different needs for different customers, but we can genuinely say we have been blessed to have been able to serve whatever need you or your family had. We will never be able to fully express what you all have meant to us, continue to mean to us, the support you have shown us, and how grateful we are for knowing all of you. Thank you all for being the amazing people you are, and allowing us to get to know you and your family.
We want to thank Kelly (the founder of Shana Cake) for trusting us to keep her customers safe. We did not know the first thing about gluten free baking or how important a baking environment, that didn’t offer gluten free, but was gluten free was. We appreciate that you trusted us to navigate this new terrain and serve your customers in a way that you could feel good about. We also want to thank you for the endless questions you answered, especially regarding technology, and all of the help with the website. Thank you for the time you have given to us, and the patience you have shown us. Without you starting Shana Cake, and entrusting us to continue it, none of this would have been possible.
We want to thank Suzie Artzer and Brie for knowing we were in over our heads the first holiday season and jumping in to save us. To say the holidays at the bakery are an around the clock operation is no exaggeration, and something you can’t fully prepare for unless you have personally witnessed it. We opened our doors on November 11th with Thanksgiving being just a couple of weeks away, and without them jumping in, we wouldn’t have survived the first month. While we are at it, we want to thank the customers (again) that had items delivered to their door on Thanksgiving day that first year, we are thankful you didn’t give up on us, and we came full circle this year delivering to your door again, not on Thanksgiving day. Thank you again Brie, and Suzie for your continued support and encouragement.
We want to thank our family, without them, again none of this would have been possible. My parents, Dean and Twila, my daughters Micalah, Lauryn, Katelynn, and Madilynn, and my ex- husband Jeff have all served a role in helping us at some point along the way. I had typed up each individual thanks for the role they had played and realized how incredibly long it made this already very lengthy post. From grabbing items we ran out of, to washing dishes, to driving every week to help with baking, to sleeping on a cot during the holidays, to making frosting, to scooping cookie dough, to meeting couples for wedding cake tastings, to helping deliver wedding cakes, and endless other ways, they have all helped and we honestly would never have made it through the last 4 years without them. We cannot thank them enough for their time, love, and dedication.
We want to thank the Wetmore Community for their love and support, as well as the trial of a new business model for us. We were overwhelmed, but not surprised, at how they showed up for us at our open house, and continued to support our bakery, even if they didn’t have dietary restrictions. To anyone that doesn’t have a small town as part of their “life story”, we strongly encourage you to consider it, and you won’t find a better one than Wetmore. This is a small town embarking on big things, and although Shana Cake might not be a part of that, we are blessed and grateful that we are. We sincerely want to thank you all for your support!
We want to thank Kenzi, Chloe, and Derek for letting us be a small part of their family and knowing to our core how well our customers will continue to be cared for. If someone were to ask us what you need to own a small business, especially a bakery, our answer would be heart. You have to have a heart that cares about your customers, you have to have a heart that is passionate about making what they need, and you have to have a heart is warmed by the moments you are a part of, those moments will keep you going when you’re exhausted, and need the inspiration. Knowing this family, we know they have that heart. They are genuinely some of the kindest, sweetest people we have met. We know they will care for our customers in the same capacity we have. We know they have a passion for baking, and as a bonus, they aren’t new to gluten and dairy free baking. We know your important moments will warm their hearts, the same way they have warmed ours. It is one thing to witness someone’s child come into the bakery and be able to choose any item for the first time, it is even more touching (we assume) to have that child be your child. Stella is one of the first people that came to mind when we moved the bakery to Wetmore. It made our day to see her come in and pick out a mini cupcake, and we knew we would be missing that. In retrospect, we did not fully appreciate what that likely meant to Stella and Kenzi as well. It isn’t the same having a dozen mini cupcakes delivered as it is coming in and choosing it from a case full of options, all of which would be safe. We could sense how amazing it was, and feel the joy that child experienced, but we could not fully appreciate how unique of an experience Shana Cake was providing by offering a retail storefront. Kenzi, Derek, and Chloe understand that firsthand, so they not only have the same heart for this business that we did, they can fully appreciate how unique it is. We can’t wait for all of you to meet their family and enjoy safe treats at Sweet Freedom Bakery.
