The Omaha Bakery is expanding operations! A booming cake business and successful ventures into the Ketogenic world have led the Omaha Bakery to expand into Bellevue — near 15th and Cornhusker in the wildly popular Wolf Creek Plaza.
The expansion means moving out of her flagship bakery at 608 S. 72nd Street. “We simply have run out of usable space at our current location and the demand for our products has outgrown our baking capacity,” said Omaha Bakery owner Michelle Kaiser, who revealed that her cake business and vast KETO bakery line has exploded in recent years.
Kaiser, who opened a second location in September in Elkhorn is sad to leave her 72nd street location. “It’s bittersweet,” said Kaiser. “We can no longer meet the demand of our customers.” Kaiser’s newest location in Bellevue is a dream come true. Located in a former Panera Bread, the space will more than double her current sq. footage and has a beautiful patio with outdoor seating.
“Bakery orders from military families and those living in the Bellevue community have soared over the last couple of years,” said Kaiser. “When Panera moved out to find a space with a drive-thru, we jumped at the chance.” With the expansion into Bellevue, The Omaha Bakery has tripled its sq. footage in the last 12 months!
“We’ve been keeping our eyes open for space for several months. When Michelle broached the subject of a Bellevue expansion, she asked what I thought about an expansion into a booming area of Bellevue. Joe Kenney, president of 316 Strategy Group and restaurant consultant “said, ‘It is really ideal in all respects, and after reviewing the optics with our leasing agent Sara Hanke, we began working out the details. It might surprise people to know how busy that area is and we hope to leverage that.”
Dave Barry, manager of operations at Kaiser’s flagship store on 72nd Street is excited about the move to the new location. “To us, it means ‘more’. More production space, more staff, more room for guests to sit and relax, more product to enjoy, and with our northwest location and now a southeast location, more opportunity to cover the needs of the greater Omaha Metropolitan Area.”
Wolf Creek Plaza is one of the best performing retail centers in Bellevue, conveniently located off of Highway 75 and Cornhusker Road. The co-tenancy of national retailers like Five Below, Ross, Dollar Tree, and Buffalo Wild Wings create that consistent traffic that any retailer wants. Sara Hanke, Kaiser’s leasing agent with The Lerner Company, shared her insight: “The Omaha Bakery will fill a void bringing in locally made baked goods drawing customers from Bellevue, Offutt Airforce Base as well as the greater Omaha MSA. Whether it’s enjoying a treat on their new patio or popping in for a quick keto-friendly snack, I have no doubt the area will lift up this local favorite and help it realize many successful years.”
The new location in Bellevue will also serve as the point of dispatch for Omaha Bakery deliveries to its successful drop-off site in Lincoln’s Haymarket that began last summer. All of The Omaha Bakery’s tried-and-true favorites will be available no matter where their customers want them.
“The new location gives us an opportunity to focus on the customer’s experience. The additional space will present opportunities that simply weren’t possible at the 72nd location,” said Kaiser, whose Omaha Bakery was featured on The Food Network and has a long list of local, regional, and national awards including being listed as one of the best bakeries in America.
The expansion into Bellevue may be the first of other developments for the nationally award-winning Omaha Bakery. The new opening also could be a precursor to stores in cities such as Papillion, Grand Island, Des Moines, Kansas City, and St. Petersburg, Florida. “We’re filling a void in the community and we’re thrilled to bring our cakes, rolls, bars, and a vast selection of KETO options to the Bellevue community,” said Kaiser, who will be a vendor at the upcoming KETO Summit in Omaha.
Construction of the new space is underway and The Omaha Bakery plans to finish construction of the new space in September.
