Superior Woman--Summer 2020--Final Edition

BAKING
up a storm
BY DALE HEMMILA
Editor’s Note: The story, below, was filed just before the COVID 19 pandemic hit hard. Subsequently, the business was
shuttered for two months. Back online now, the owner says she is happy to be back and pleased to see her regular customers (“at
least what you can see above the mask”). Business, she says, has been good, even without indoor seating. The outdoor garden
and sidewalk seating has been very popular. A $10,000 grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation helped
pay the rent, utilities and payroll during the shutdown. Now that the business is back up and running pandemic-style, owner
Marybeth Kurtz says “I have been very lucky.” Superior Woman wanted to present the original pre-pandemic story of this
business and business owner with the hope that more normal times will be in our future soon.
IIn the middle of the main street, in a small Upper Peninsula mining
town, sits a bright blue building that stands out among the drab
stone and brick structures that occupy the remaining blocks. Its bright
façade almost compels you to step inside and check it out. Once
inside, the sights and smells of a small-town bakery/restaurant lets you
know you have found a hometown treasure for the senses, including,
ultimately, your sense of taste.
The bright blue building houses Midtown Bakery & Café in
downtown Negaunee, Michigan, and over the past two decades it has
become well-known for its made-from-scratch baked goods, and its
soul- pleasing homemade soups and sandwiches. Operated by owner
Marybeth Kurtz, and staffed by a loyal group of longtime employees,
Midtown has become a destination for the discerning epicurean in
Michigan’s central Upper Peninsula.
Actually, “discerning epicurean” is probably not the market
demographic Kurtz and her then-husband envisioned when they
opened the shop 24 years ago. But, over that generational time
period, the shop has developed a very loyal and discriminating
following.
That following might get a whole lot bigger very soon. Kurtz
recently participated, as part of a two-person team, on the Food
Network’s “Winner Cake All” program. Teaming up with local baker
Joe Heck, who received the original invitation from the network and
enlisted Kurtz as his teammate, the pair faced off against three other
two-person teams. After surviving the elimination round, they were
given six hours to come up with a “Broadway Princess Party Cake,”
working against the final two other teams.
“We had to create a cake for the client and the client wanted
chocolate and peanut butter,” she said. “So we used my Mom’s
Chocolate Cake and Joe had a peanut butter frosting recipe.”
Unfortunately, the judges chose a different cake as the winner.
“They loved the cake, not necessarily the way it looked, but they
loved the cake and we just had fun,” she said. “Once we saw the
episode it was like, oh, yeah, we did pretty good. Our goal was to go
and represent the U.P. and have a good time.”
From Retail to Baked Goods
Originally opened as an antique shop, the bakery end of Kurtz’s
business came along six months later. After six years, the antiques
were “pushed out” and soups, salads and sandwiches were added. As
their reputation grew, catering events, whether that be in the form of
delivering sandwiches to the local iron ore mines, or catering dinners
for various customers, became what Kurtz calls a “pretty good chunk”
of the business.
Kurtz, now the sole owner of the shop, is a transplant from the
Detroit area, but there are no big city airs among the mismatched
tables and chairs that seat about 50 patrons, and which, on most
days at lunch time, are fully occupied. The atmosphere can only be
described as hometown casual.
“Most people think of it as home,” she said on a recent Friday
afternoon as she laughed with some of the regulars. “We’ll joke around
with people and tell them if you need anything, either holler loud or
SUMMER 2020 SUPERIORWOMAN.NET 5