In 2008 when Elizabeth Murgach started working in a bakery at her local Walmart, she didn’t know anything about decorating cakes. Ten years later, Elizabeth found herself baking and decorating wedding cakes at her own shop, Good Morning Bakery.
After learning the basics from her colleagues at Walmart, Elizabeth wanted to know more. She took three baking classes at Kankakee Community College. Determined to further her skills, she took all three classes again and fell in love with baking. After finishing her training, her teacher offered her a job at her bakery and Elizabeth accepted. Elizabeth worked at her teacher’s bakery for a year before deciding to test the market with her own recipes.
Elizabeth, her husband Kimmer, and her daughter Coletta sold cookies and cake at local events and farmer’s markets, receiving an incredible response and ultimately deciding to take the leap and open their own bakery. They found a building in a great location on a busy street, but it required a lot of work to fix-up. “We had to move the walls, remove the dingy carpeting, and purchase equipment,” Elizabeth explained.
Elizabeth opened the doors to Good Morning Bakery in mid-2018 with cases full of cupcakes, cookies, cinnamon rolls, and biscuits. While Good Morning Bakery has been embraced by the community, there have been challenges along the way, including when the cooler and oven in the bakery broke down within one week of each other. After receiving a $7,300 Allies for Community Business loan, Elizabeth was able to buy a new cooler and parts to repair her oven.
Elizabeth’s dedication to her craft and community is undeniable. She hopes that Good Morning Bakery can continue to grow so that she can hire and train cake decorators to give them the opportunity to learn, just like she once had.
