Business: Fiene’s Bakery
Address: 1603 N. Aurora Road, Naperville
Phone/Website: 630-470-9976, www.fienesbakery.com
Owner: Meghan Fiene, 34, of Warrenville
Years in business? Opened June 9
What does your businesses do? “We are a scratch-made bakery. Everything you see in our cases was made in-house. We’re a full-scale bakery. We’re not just a cupcake shop. We’re not just a doughnut shop. We do everything. My go-to line is we do everything from doughnuts to wedding cakes and everything in-between,” Fiene said.
How is the business doing? “We hit the ground running. We tried to do a soft opening, and everyone showed up. So, it’s been great. … Naperville heard about us, and they all came in.”
Why do you own a bakery? “My first career, I studied exercise physiology at West Virginia University. … I got my master’s in kinesiology, and then decided my true passion was culinary and pastry. … I started pasty school about 10 years ago, worked in the industry, came to the point where I was 34, time to do it. It is a big decision (to start a business).”
Where did you study? “The College of DuPage. They have an excellent pastry program. … I did culinary arts and pastry arts. Culinary is more the savory side of things. … I have been able to take the culinary degree and apply it here as well. I have an herb garden up front.”
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Are you happy? “I’m so happy. This is everything I imagined. Just as tiring as I imagined. … I usually get here at 3, 3:30 (in the morning). … That’s a big thing about this bakery, everything is fresh. Quality is so important. I have to get up that early to make sure everything is fresh and out there (in the cases) at 6 a.m. when we open. … Everything here is my own recipe. You get ideas from the internet and pastry art books, and you kind of make everything your own.”
Any favorite recipes? “The cinnamon rolls and the pecan sticky buns. They are topnotch. … I took a lot of time tweaking (the recipes) until I got them just right.”
What do you enjoy eating? “Cheesy spinach Danish. A sticky bun. The almond coffee cake. Oh, and the chocolate cake too. The chocolate cake is my grandma’s recipe. She was in the first first-grade class at Naper School. Clarice Gatons. I did learn (about baking) from her. … We joke the cooking and baking skipped a generation because my mom cannot do her recipes at all, and I can do them like it’s nothing.”
How do you test your recipes? “Do you know who the most honest people are? Your family.”
Are you selling wedding cakes? “We are. People are calling. We offer tastings.”
Do you decorate the cakes? “I’m really good at baking, and I have some excellent cake decorators helping me out.”
What do you like about owning your own business? “There’s a great sense of pride. To see it come to life. To see the results. I can’t take full credit. We have seven employees. We need everyone to make this happen. … The fact that they earn a paycheck here and go home and provide for their families. There’s a special feeling to that, something that was unexpected.”
Any negatives? “It’s too soon for that.”
What challenges do you face? “The biggest challenge, as a business owner, is being everywhere at once. I want to be up front with the customers, interacting with them, but I want to help the other bakers and cake decorators in the back. … But it’s a good thing. I like to be busy and I definitely am.”
What about other bakeries? “It’s a really big town. There’s room for lots of bakeries. Everyone wants comfort food, and that’s what we have.”
Any plans for your bakery? “We don’t have our full menu out. I want to keep adding new items to our menu. That’s so important. The public loves to come in and try something new.”
Any favorite stories? “Father’s Day, I expected to be busy, so I made so much. Extra everything. I thought, ‘We probably won’t sell this all, but I want to be prepared.’ We were running out of items by 9 a.m. and trying to keep up.
“We were able to make more product and replenish it. Lesson learned.”
What’s your advice for someone starting a business? “I would say plan as much as you possibly can, and then some. That’s how I approached it, and I think it turned out well. … Planning. Planning.”
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.