My Biz: Marion bakery finds its niche

Owner: Juli Hardin

Company: Jule's Bakery

Address: 3201 Armar Dr., Marion

Phone: (319) 447-0943

Website: www.julesbakery.com

Elevator Pitch: Life's too short to eat bad dessert.

MARION - Jule's Bakery opened its doors in 2001 - at a time that Juli Hardin says was perfect.

“Because of food television and cake shows, my clients were very sophisticated in cake design demands. I had the team and talent in place by then to meet that demand,” she explained.

Hardin, a Cedar Rapids native with a sweet tooth, always liked to bake and decorate cakes - “Just as a hobby and for fun.”

With a degree in business and an emphasis in public relations, she had 25 years of business management experience under her belt - the most recent being the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce's vice president of marketing communications.

“I made the jump from that to this because I always knew I wanted my own business,” she recalled.

Hardin spent three years researching the bakery business before she took the leap, loaded with advice from her business network of colleagues.

“I knew nothing about production in a bakery when I opened,” Hardin explained. “I understood business - leadership and teamwork then - but now I understand bakery production, too.”

Hardin started out producing breads and breakfast fare, but it soon became obvious that wasn't her bakery's niche.

“Our customers bought cakes,” said Hardin. “It was very easy for me to look at our production numbers at the end of the year and realize we shouldn't put all our resources into breakfast products when it was the cakes our customers really wanted.”

The bakery also produces an extensive and eclectic variety of gourmet cupcakes - such as its chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-stuffed chocolate cupcake - cake balls, cake pops and so forth.

But the main focus is cakes - all flavors, styles, shapes, sizes and themes.

Today the bakery boasts 11 employees, plus herself. And this month is one of its busiest months, with graduations and weddings.

“In May 2011 we made 4.2 tons of cake,” Hardin noted.

Hardin, a white-cake snob herself, acknowledged it's Jule's Bakery's frosting that tips the scale - made from the recipe she developed in her home kitchen more than 33 years ago and now used on every cake that comes out of the bakery's kitchen.

In addition to running the company, she has one more chore: “I have the horrible job of test tasting everything we make,” she laughed.

Know a business owner or manager who should be considered for “My Biz”? Contact business editor Michael Chevy Castranova at michael.castranova@sourcemedia.net.