KATIE SEEVERS IS BAKING GOOD, TASTING GOOD AND DOING GOOD
By: Ashlyn DeLoughy
This is a local story I covered for my Multimedia News Production course.
From Homecoming to Family Weekend, Elon University parents could not physically support their students this past semester with the cancellation of many in person events due to COVID-19 protocol, that was until Katie Seevers stepped in.
Seevers, a local resident of Graham and mother of six, opened her home bakery in March 2019. The bakery she named, The Baked Good, was created when one of her lifelong dreams married her passion for giving back to the community.
HOW IT STARTED
The decision to be a bakery out of her own home was a practical one. She homeschools her six children throughout the day and needed to find that balance between being a mother and a business owner. Opening a business out of her own home, provided Seevers with the flexibility she needed to teach double digit multiplication while popping a tray of Plain Jane’s - her original chocolate chip cookies- into the oven.
An inspection was done by the state and soon Seevers was approved to obtain her at home baking license. Her marketing “partner in crime” and husband, Jeff, helped her to develop the bakery’s name, logo and slogan.
The Seevers family had a past history of engaging in service and giving back to their community so it was essential for them to make giving a part of the Baked Good’s mission. This is where they created the slogan "baking good, tasting good, doing good" with the doing good aspect of the business dating back to when the family adopted two children from Ethiopia nine years ago.
“In that process we just realized that there's so much more to the world than just what we can see in our own backyard. And so we wanted to make sure that we were doing things in the community, not just abroad but in the community to help people that were maybe down and out or needed help,” Seevers said.
Since opening, the Baked Good has been giving 10% of its profits to the Piedmont Rescue Mission, an organization that provides meals and assistance to those struggling in Alamance County.
Building the Baked Good, relied on word of mouth. Seevers first started baking for friends, family and local residents in the city of Graham. Her business soon began to grow when she developed a personal connection to local college students and their parents.
WHERE SHE DELIVERS
She's the baker, the driver and the person you talk to on the phone.
The Baked Good ships nationally and delivers to certain areas nearby. Most of the deliveries made are to Elon University and Liberty University as well as other areas within the state.
Seevers hand delivers these orders herself with personalized message cards written by families and birthday balloons when requested.
“We’ve been able to bring a little bit of home to people who are looking for home. We’ve really just provided a service that people have appreciated,” Seevers said.
EACH TREAT HAS A STORY
Seevers spends an average of 50-60 hours baking each week.
The original cookie that got Seevers started is called the Keeker, which is the nickname her father used to call her when she was younger. Seevers has been baking this cookie since she was 14.
The Queenie is a cheesecake cupcake inspired by her grandmother's cheesecake recipe.
The MacQueen cupcake is an apple pumpkin cupcake made with apples from a local orchard in Toledo, Ohio that Seevers would go to during her childhood.
The Baked Good's menu consists of many different treats including, but not limited to cookies, cupcakes, muffins, creme pies and scones.
Being a Small Business Owner During COVID-19 Brought Some Surprises
While small business owners across the nation have been impacted differently by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Elon community in particular has kept The Baked Good in business. There were times Seevers was concerned that she would lose her bakery if Elon went remote. However, Seevers kept holding on and unexpectedly saw an increase in her profits throughout the course of this semester.
“This year it’s definitely taken a big turn. I didn’t expect to get this many orders. I didn’t expect to be baking every day. Initially a year and a half ago I was baking maybe once a week and now it’s literally every day,” Seevers said.
BUSINESS IS BOOMING
This increase in profits parallels a recent study done by the Journal of Medical Internet Research. This study surveyed the ways in which college students have been negatively impacted by the ongoing pandemic. The results reveal how college students are experiencing everything from interrupted sleeping habits, to different eating patterns and to a general increase in overall anxieties. Therefore, the desire for parents to send a piece of “home” down to their students through some tasty treats only makes sense.
