Buzzing with potential: New bakery Lady B's on Broadway opens in October

Sep. 28—East Broadway Street in Logansport will soon be filled with the delicious smells of all sorts of desserts and more, all coming from Lady B's on Broadway.

The home-turned-business, decorated with various bee-themed items, will be opening on Oct. 10, according to owner Beverly Maloy.

"Well, the business is considered a bakery as far as just on paper because they didn't know what to call me," Maloy said. "Because I'm not a restaurant, because I'm not serving people. But I wanted a place for people to gather if they wanted to have a meeting or, you know, you just come in with a couple of your friends and want to have some cake and something to drink and discuss something on your lunch hour, I don't care. And then [as] far as making stuff, I'm going to bake pretty much everything there is to bake: pies, cakes, breads. I even found a recipe for baking cake donuts."

Even when she worked, Maloy said she was baking and bringing items to people to make their day. She said this business is something to keep her busy during her retirement in the fall and winter months. In the summer, she provides a camp at Heart and Soil Farm called Mindfulness Camp.

According to Heart and Soil Farm, Inc's Facebook page, the camp teaches kids from kindergarten to fifth grade life skills such as interacting with animals and cooking through play. The kids' love for the cooking aspect of the camp was another factor that played into Lady B's opening, Maloy said.

"My original plan was to, if I didn't sell anything the first day, it was to go to Emmaus. But instead, my older friends talked me into making an old people's list, senior citizens list and said, 'don't give it to Emmaus. I mean, that's commendable, [we] can't stop you, but we will take the day old stuff. Please still bring it to us,'" Maloy said. "So [yes], I probably will do that."

The building Lady B's is housed in is owned by Angelique Witlam, who also owns Heart and Soil Farm, Inc, Maloy said. The two have worked together for a long time, Maloy said, and have flipped four houses similar to the house Lady B's is in. Maloy said that is Witlam's business, however, and she just helps.

According to an article published in March 2021 by the Pharos-Tribune, Maloy and Witlam faced push back by the Logansport Board of Zoning Appeals to open the bakery due to the location chosen, which is a zoned residential area.

The article said one board member was concerned that if other people wanted to open a business on the Broadway block, they would have to seek a use variance, and by allowing Maloy and Witlam to run the bakery, future establishments would have something to fall back on in their arguments to run businesses in a residential neighborhood.

"And we presented, we had all our ducks in a row. We, you know, went there prepared and they were like, 'we're sorry, but you need to rent or buy something downtown, because that's what we're trying to do is rejuvenate downtown,'" Maloy said. "I said, 'I understand. That's a problem, but it's not my problem.'"

Maloy said she raised the arguments that while rent for businesses downtown is $3,000 a month, Witlam was offering the house to her. The board responded that Maloy would get more business if she housed the business downtown, but Maloy replied that she is trying to help the community, not make money. Maloy said two other businesses were operating on the block as well, to which she said the board responded by saying the businesses had been there so long that they were grandfathered in.

The board, after the battle with Maloy and Witlam, gave her permission to open and operate Lady B's.

"I thought, 'you're not getting me out of this, you're not.' And it became quite the battle," Maloy said. "But then they said, 'well, we're going to give it to you as an exception in case ... your business fails.' And I thought, 'yeah, thanks.' 'In case your business fails, it can be a house.' I said, 'it would be anyway. It would be a perfect house.'"

Maloy plans to sell her items by the slice, rather than as a whole item, and her items will not be made to order. In addition to desserts and baked goods, there is also a coffee machine in Lady B's. She said she does not want to have any help in the bakery, and will be cooking, cleaning, mopping and emptying the trash.

"And I said, 'but I don't know how much food I can produce,'" Maloy said. "So, I just have to keep telling myself I can only do what I can do. When it's gone, it's gone."

Maloy said she also wants to make small meals such as soups and sandwiches to help the community. In addition to offering tutoring for students in the back of the building, Maloy wants to start an after school cooking class as well, due to the popularity of cooking at Mindfulness Camp.

"If you ask them at the end of the camp, 'what are some of the things they love?', one of them is the cooking. And believe it or not, it's mainly the boys ... I don't know if they don't get to ... but there's so much math, there's just so much [to] learn during cooking. You know, they didn't even know how to read a measuring cup and that kind of thing," Maloy said. "So yes, I want to do that. Now, I've also had some adults already call me and say that they would like to do that as a fun thing. So, I see this branching out into ... another whole beast, so you say, but, well, it's got to be at least a slow progression."

Maloy said the bakery is also handicap friendly, with features such as a wheelchair ramp outside and handles in the restroom, because Witlam is a doctor of physical therapy. She said she loves the bakery and how it turned out, and she said she thinks it is a good concept.

"I think that I'm hoping that people find it relaxing and want to come in and just have coffee and whatever it is that I'm serving that day. And it's kind of an old concept, but it's communication, stories," Maloy said. "I have a friend in New York ... he came from Logansport and he works at United Nations and he said, 'Bev, here's what you need to do.' He's the director of food service at United Nations. He said, 'you always have a story to tell.' So, he said, 'write on your board: come in for a cupcake and a story. There's both.' ... And so, then I thought, 'you know what, we should.' Because originally they weren't going to let us have any tables and chairs. It was going to be like Bolin's, you'd go in, now you can't even do that, go in and buy donuts. So, I really pressed to say, 'I'm not a restaurant, but can't they come in and sit down?'... So, I'm hoping it blossoms into everything that I've hoped for and so far, it has."

Lady B's on Broadway is located at 1822 E. Broadway St. The business will be open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Maloy said.