At Mad Ox Bakery our passion is baking. We use this passion to help philanthropic groups, grow the 100 block of Council Bluffs into more of a destination, and provide a unique place for friends to meet, hang out, and enjoy different flavors that are not available elsewhere.
Business Description:
The Council Bluffs area had been without a boutique bakery for many years. This caused many people to go to Omaha to find custom wedding cakes, and special requests. We are now filling that need and saving people time, money and providing a business that cares about the community so that local dollars can help out local philanthropic groups.
With fourteen years of experience each, our passion is baking. We use this passion to provide a great place for friends to gather and produce some of the most unique flavors and products in the Council Bluffs area at Mad Ox Bakery. The name is a play on the last name of owners, a husband and wife team, Mathew and Karris Mattox. We opened the doors on September 20, 2013 and have been baking up the Mad Ox Goodness ever since. We want you to feel like this is a place where you can hang out and relax with your friends and family. You may notice that each table is different from the colorful bottle cap table to the nickel and penny tables and superhero posters cover the walls. There are numerous card and board games to play, or you can relax with a good book or use the free wi-fi.
One of the reasons we wanted to open our own bakery is so we could share some of the unique and delicious ideas we had for baked goods! We make stuffed croissants fresh everyday in a variety of savory and sweet flavors. We don't stop there, because at the Mad Ox Bakery you will find fresh breads, cookies, donuts, cinnamon rolls, cupcakes, gourmet bars, homemade Scraper's turtles, mini cheesecakes, and many other items. We also have great lunch specials each day.
The Mad Ox Bakery loves to make any event extra sweet with a specialty cake. From a simple sheet cake, 3-D sculpted cakes, or a custom wedding cake that will wow your guest. You can get it all from Mad Ox Bakery.
One item that is special to our heart is the Scraper's turtle. It is a turtle candy with our homemade caramel and it is unique because all of the profits from Scraper's turtle sales are donated to cancer research, which has totaled over $1700 so far. Mathew's father was known as "Scraper" on the fire department, but sadly he passed away from cancer before getting to enjoy retirement. This is a reason that we opened our bakery, we wanted to do something we enjoy now rather than wait until retirement because you never know what the future holds.
The retail baking industry is showing growth over two percent every year for the past five years. There are many reasons driving this such as popular bakery-centric television shows. In Council Bluffs this segment of the market was very under served. There were limited options for custom wedding cakes, special occasion cakes, and boutique baked goods. Many people in Council Bluffs travel to Omaha to get these services, but would shop in Council Bluffs if the quality and service they are looking for were available.
Our customers have three different profiles. They will be getting married and looking for a wedding cake, or picking up something convenient before work or lunch, or the casual shopper looking to enjoy some baked goods. The surrounding area of the 100 Block includes
Population Med. HHI # of HH
1-mile 13,185 $42,489 5,406
3-mile 54,229 $48,811 21,698
5-mile 84,242 $47,915 33,130
According to the UNI Small Business Center the market size for bakeries in Council Bluffs is $2.5 million, but is comprised mostly of commercial bakeries and a few small home bakeries, but no boutique retail bakeries until we opened. As the area grows with industries that are bringing in jobs this niche of the market needs to be serviced and we are positioning our business to fill the need.
Reason for Entering:
We have poured our time and money into the success of Mad Ox Bakery, and with the help of the UNI Small Business Center we are already profitable and growing. We would love to first, expand our product line, and replace equipment that we have outgrown, like a larger proofer (makes the bread rise), as well as upgrade equipment that would help us make our already unrivaled products a step above. Finally, we would like to set up a space where local music acts can play and this would give our space the ability to have charity and fundraising events at Mad Ox Bakery. The community sharing in music and great baked goods for a cause is our dream, so help us make the dream come true.