Nothing Bundt Cakes opens first Greater Lansing bakery in Okemos
OKEMOS — When customers visit the first Nothing Bundt Cakes location in Greater Lansing, Jerry Yurgo wants them to have the same experience he had during his first visit to the company's original location in Las Vegas.
"This is phenomenal," he remembers saying after he tried the bundt cake and got a look at the bakery's unique design.
The company's founders, Dena Tripp and Debbie Shwet, opened their first bakery in 1997.
Yurgo, a retired battalion fire chief and his wife Kelly, a former social worker, live in Macomb and had never heard of the franchise. But the couple knew they wanted to open their own business in Michigan, and a visit to a Nothing Bundt Cakes with Wendy Kinney, Jerry Yurgo's sister, convinced him they should go with the brand.
"I thought it was like a mom and pop shop, just this beautiful mom and pop shop," he said. "Awesome employees and you were greeted when you walked in."
Kinney, who lives in Las Vegas, remembers her brother's expression when he tried a piece of cake.
"He was like, 'Let’s do it,'" she said.
The Yurgos, along with Kinney and her husband, opened their first Nothing Bundt Cakes five years ago in Rochester Hills. Now they're bringing the franchise to the Lansing area.
The new 2,800-square-foot bakery at 2090 W. Grand River Ave., which will feature 11 different bundt cake flavors made on-site, opened Thursday.
"There's nothing that beats real scratch-made cake," Jerry Yurgo said.
Brand built on scratch-made baking
Before the Yurgos decided to become franchise owners, both their careers put them in a position to meet people "on the worst days of their lives," he said.
A social worker and firefighter, "we both knew we didn't want to retire into our golden years, so to speak, living that way," Jerry Yurgo said. "We wanted at some point to stop that and do something for us."
Running a bakery was an opportunity to "bring joy" to peoples' lives, he said.
Kinney, who knew the company's founders, said the brand stands out.
"It's so unique and so delicious," she said.
"This was something that was just a great business," Jerry Yurgo said. "People were happy there and that's what we wanted. We'd had enough of the bad days."
Nothing Bundt Cakes offers bundt cakes in a variety of sizes and flavors, making everything, from the cakes to the frosting, from scratch at each location every day, he said.
"That's what we're known for," Jerry Yurgo said.
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New location will be Michigan's seventh
The Okemos bakery will be the company's seventh location in Michigan. It joins more than 400 across the country.
The ownership team picked the location, formerly home to a Payless Shoes store, because they wanted to open a bakery close to East Lansing.
Kinney graduated from Michigan State University and attended Western Michigan University Cooley Law School.
"She knows the area really well and knew it could support our brand, and that people would love our brand here," Jerry Yurgo said.
Kinney credits MSU with sending her life in the right direction. An entrepreneur, she's the founder of Metrics Global, a payments and fintech company.
The Okemos store is "like a dream come true," Kinney said. "It’s my way of staying connected to the place I love so much."
Renovations to the space started in January.
"We completely gutted and rebuilt it," Jerry Yurgo said.
Ownership plans to hire a total of 25 to 30 employees. At least half of those positions have been filled, but the location is still hiring.
Customers will be able to order cakes online, in person or over the phone. Visit the company website at www.nothingbundtcakes.com .
Contact Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @GrecoatLSJ .
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Nothing Bundt Cakes opens first Greater Lansing location in Okemos
