New Bakery/Deli Next to Campus

Jessica Peterson
Alpha Xi Delta

You know that feeling you get when you think about your mom’s or grandma’s cooking? Those homemade desserts and sandwiches that nothing else really compares to when you most crave it…  Well now that feeling can be diminished with the authentic bakery/deli that three dreamers have established right next to campus.

Denise Sheldon-Schrader, Brenda Kruger and Pat “Mama” DeBaere met at an International Confectioners Exploration Society (ICES) convention eight years ago and have since been traveling to cake conventions, talking about starting a bakery together.

In March of 2010, they finally stopped talking about it and started working on this dream of theirs.  It was all or nothing, and Denise was ready to sort out the details - finding through a survey that next to having a bakery, Lincoln also wanted a new deli.  This piece of information encouraged the ladies to go above their original plan of opening a simple bakery and also creating a deli.

Brenda Kruger made the bold decision of moving to Lincoln from Iowa to become the head baker.  The three set a goal to be known as “the place for something different.  To make you feel like you are at home and eating food like you get at home or Grandma’s house.”  Mama’s Dream Bakery and Deli is also open to and encourage customers to make suggestions.

After a lot of hard work and education of the rules and regulations, Mama’s Dream Bakery and Deli opened its doors on November 18th, 2010 on 19th and Q streets (just down the street from Abel/Sandoz) in the building that used to be an antique mall.  Since this is such a fresh new business, these three ladies have been putting in sometimes up to thirteen hours a day and will do so until they become more stable and are able to hire other employees.

Another task that they are working on is adding a room for cake decorating supplies such as what you might find at Hobby Lobby or Michaels, although Mama’s isn’t trying to compete with them.  “We want to focus on cake decorators,” Denise said.

When asked how they came up with the name, Denise responded that “we’re all mamas, and that it truly was a dream come true” for the three of them.

Jess is a sophomore studying advertising.  You may contact her at jess_peterson16@hotmail.com.