116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Amana Colonies bakery expands to Cedar Rapids’ NewBo City Market
First expansion offers the same “back to the basics” pastries
Jul. 18, 2023 7:00 am, Updated: Jul. 18, 2023 7:31 am
CEDAR RAPIDS — For the first time since its founding, the Amana Colonies’ namesake bakery has opened an expansion outside of its Iowa County home.
Owners Dan and Victoria Kirby opened the Amana Colonies Bakery and Cafe’s first venture in Cedar Rapids at NewBo City Market, where they started selling longtime favorites in May. The move represents a new growth for the bakery since its opening in Amana 1981 by the Ox Yoke Inn, and new ownership after being purchased by the Kirby family in 2007.
After winning over tourists and locals with their breads, pastries and cookies, the family-operated business is hoping to bring their home comforts and hometown mentality to their larger neighbor to the north. After more than 15 years of business, including a temporary pivot to survive the pandemic, it’s a move their customers have been clamoring for.
“We’ve been told by our customers for years that they’d like to see us in Cedar Rapids, so we thought it would be a good fit,” Victoria Kirby said.
When Shawnniecakes moved to Collins Community Credit Union earlier this year, the “grandma bakery,” as the couple calls their business, took the opportunity to fill the market spot.
“We just want it to be a local hometown bakery — getting back to the basics,” Victoria said. “When people think of a small mom-and-pop bakery, they think of ours.”
If you go
What: Amana Colonies Bakery and Cafe
Where: Inside NewBo City Market, 1100 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Phone: (319) 622-7640
Website: amanacoloniesbakeryandcafe.com
Details: Many of the same cookies and pastries available at the Amana location will be available in Cedar Rapids, plus a selection of popcorn, bread and kolaches.
Letting it rise
With a ready base of Cedar Rapids customers established by their temporary delivery service in the pandemic, many in Cedar Rapids already know what to expect from the bakery. At this second location, most of the same cookies and pastries will be available, plus a selection of the couple’s popular bread, kolach and popcorn varieties.
After delivering packaged varieties of their products as far as Strawberry Point and Williamsburg, consumers with a sweet tooth have developed a taste for Amana Colonies Bakery across Eastern Iowa.
“That put the Amana Bakery on the map as far as a local bakery that makes stuff from scratch,” Dan said. “Ever since then, it’s been gangbusters for us.”
Leaning on social media during times when no-contact food service became the norm, their social media following grew from 350 to about 5,500 followers. A shortage of bread on grocery store shelves and a renewed interest in artisan baking during the pandemic also helped.
What’s popular?
Popular items now available in Cedar Rapids include their cinnamon twist bread — popular to use for French toast or eaten with butter — kolaches, almond tea cookies, turtle cookies and caramel delight cookies.
Kolaches, like their strawberry rhubarb variety, are rolled with sweet dough, dolloped with fresh fruit filling and drizzled with icing. The couple’s kolaches have skyrocketed in popularity over recent years, making them a regular item at the bakery and selling out nearly every weekend since they were introduced to NewBo City Market.
Generations of heritage
With all recipes sourced from Victoria’s grandmother or mother, a popular figure who goes by “Momma Joyce” in the Amana location, the family’s breads and pastries hearken back to a time of simple joy sourced from tried and true, wholesome ingredients — a time when grocery shopping was done at specialty shops that knew customers by name, instead of at big box supermarkets with impersonal aisles.
“We wanted to provide something some families haven’t been able to enjoy, but are able to enjoy our products and feel like they’re part of ‘grandma’s house,’ ” Victoria said. “We want everyone to feel loved and welcome at our bakery. That’s our biggest goal.”
Victoria knew from a young age that she always wanted to be a baker. Those at church encouraged her to pursue her talents, evident in what she brought to church, as her calling.
In 2007, the couple purchased the bakery in Amana after hearing it would close. The bakery was first opened in 1981 by the Ox Yoke Inn.
Since then, all of its more than 200 products have been made in-house by hand, including jams and jellies, pies, pastries, breads, cookies and more.
Comments: (319) 398-8340; elijah.decious@thegazette.com
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