By Anna Romani | Guest Contributor
“I like to say that Baked Bliss is a celebration of all things baked and that we use food to celebrate special life moments,” said Kim Cutler, owner of Baked Bliss Baking Co.
Baked Bliss Baking Co. is a small, local boutique bakery known for their large cinnamon rolls, flaky bacon cheddar scones and decadent cupcakes for every season. Not only that, but they are also known for their love for their customers and being a place of light in the Waco community.
Kim said there have been “lots of little God moments” through her journey of starting Baked Bliss, including a partnership with Magnolia and a close friend becoming their landlord.
She said God spoke clearly to her one morning while she was praying and told her start a bakery. Initially, Kim said she was intimidated and did not know where to start. But, after working at Starbucks for seven years to watch how a business is run from the inside, Kim started a project she called “Fun Fridays” in October of 2013.
“Fun Fridays” was a chance for friends to come to Kim’s home and try her baked goods, enjoy free coffee and tea and relax on her porch. The idea took off and quickly grew.
“Before long, it was ‘Fun Friday and Saturday,’ and then ‘Fun Thursday, Friday and Saturday,’” Daryl Cutler, Kim’s father, said.
In fall of 2015, Kim said Baked Bliss was struggling financially, and she spent lots of time praying. At the same time, Magnolia was looking for a bakery to supply their rental properties with baked goods for the guests. They conducted a taste test, and Kim’s cinnamon roll was slipped into the mix. Soon thereafter, Joanna Gaines gave Kim a call and asked for her to make treats for their guests.
A bigger surprise followed. Kim said in March of 2017, Joanna Gaines reached back out because Magnolia wanted someone to provide wholesale baked goods for their new bakery at the Silos. For a year and a half, Baked Bliss provided thousands of different kinds of baked goods every week for the Silos Bakery, according to Kim.
Although the partnership with Magnolia was both a new opportunity and a financial blessing, Kim said what was more impactful was that the sequence of events prompted her to upgrade from baking in her house to a commercial space.
When catching up with her long-time friend, Kathy Wise, Kim said that she related the opportunity and her need for a new space. Wise said she brainstormed until they found a potential building located in a close by neighborhood near Mission Waco and their home. Wise said she made an “off the cuff” offer to purchase the land and become Kim’s landlord. This 15th Street location became Baked Bliss’s first commercial space and remains Baked Bliss’s home nearly six years later.
Baked Bliss is a family business through and through. Kim’s brother, Devin Cutler, serves as the catering and sales manager. Kim’s father, Daryl Cutler, is the accountant, and Kim’s mother, Alice Cutler, taught Kim “all she knows” about baking and cooking.
Each family member has adapted their specific skill set to benefit the business.
“Every other weekend, my dad drove down here from Fort Worth to do my accounting and my bookwork,” Kim Cutler said.
Devin has a background in catering, which made him a good fit for the catering and sales manager, but said he likes to help wherever needed. He said some days that looks like putting on a suit and meeting with a client, while other days it might mean mopping.
Kim’s cousin, Darrell Cook, has been supporting Baked Bliss from the beginning.
“Kimberly and her brother are very talented and both have whatever that genetic permutation it is that makes them able to do magic,” Cook said.
Daryl said he has enjoyed watching his family come together and everyone find their role at Baked Bliss, although it is not always easy.
“When my son started working at Baked Bliss, I told him, ‘You are about to embark on the most difficult business venture there is, and that is a family business,’” Daryl said.
That family element is not lost on the bakers who help keep the kitchen running, day in and day out.
“My favorite times at Baked Bliss are when we have a big catering order and Kim’s mom and Kim’s dad will be here and we all are in the kitchen,” said Rachel Bahl, who has been a baker and cake decorator at Baked Bliss for six years.
In the six years that Bahl has been working at Baked Bliss, she said what struck her the most has been the atmosphere and how it is unlike any of her previous jobs. She said Kim continually lived out the mission of “bringing heaven to earth” by playing worship music throughout the day, praying over customers and employees and jumping in to help others in random ways.
If that wasn’t enough, a lot of the products at Baked Bliss come from family recipes that have been around for a hundred years.
“A lot of things [Kim] makes in there I have eaten some version of it since I was a child,” Cook said.
Although many people encouraged Kim to name the bakery after herself, she insisted on naming it Baked Bliss.
“This is not the Kim Cutler show, because none of this is here because Kim Cutler did it,” Kim said. “It is Baked Bliss because it is a team of people who rallied around me to get a dream off of the ground.”
Although Kim said she and her team fully recognize that their location is not in the best spot for traffic, that is done intentionally. Kim had worked in the local neighborhood for 15 years through her church ministry before starting Baked Bliss and grew fond of the area, a sentiment echoed by the bakers as well.
“I do believe that this location, which has been really difficult to be here, has really created a sense of mission because we are in a difficult neighborhood, close to Mission Waco,” Bahl said.
Wise said that even though she is their landlord, she agrees that they are not in the best location to attract customers. However, he said she wanted to invest in that neighborhood specifically because she loves that neighborhood, and her heart is in it.
“Any time we can help positive things that build community in our neighborhood, I’m all for that,” Wise said.
Ultimately, Wise said what drives Kim and her bakery is their mission to serve the community and shower love on their customers. They do this by encouraging those who stop by, praying over the business and the customers and providing physical and spiritual nourishment to those they come across.
Wise said even today, Kim is often found having conversations with her customers on the porch, just like she did 10 years ago when she was selling baked goods from her home.
Cook said the bakery is part of a calling for Kim and is a way she expresses her faith.
“She has a heart of gold and her mission, honest to God, is to love you, and she is going to do it with these cinnamon rolls,” Cook said. “My suspicion is that the secret to Kimberly’s success has far more to do with how she treats other people than even the quality of her product.”
