About

Background of Shandy Loberg/Thorell

      I, Shandy Loberg/Thorell, have an associate’s degree from Northeast Community College in business management as well as a bachelor degree from Wayne state in the same major. 

      My past corporate experience is in Human Resources.  I was a department head for Human Resources in two different corporate businesses.  Due to health conditions during my first pregnancy, I was given a choice by my doctor, my baby or my career.  I decided to have a healthy baby and family, so I stepped away from the corporate world.  Our family still needed a second income, so I created my first business named Shandy’s Solutions.  It was a business based on writing government grants and giving corporate trainings with approved grants funds.  I was a corporate trainer/public speaker for about 16 years when the grant funds started to dry up.  I decided to write a motivational book to launch my career into the motivational side of speaking.  My book was published in 2015 titled “Surviving Life How to Turn Nightmares into Dreams” however when this book was in editing the family’s funds were drying up quickly.  I assessed that a pivot was needed to provide for my family so Shandy’s Bakery was born.

 

The Creation Shandy’s Bakery

     While my book was in editing, our funds were drying up quickly. I had four children and was struggling to even put food on the table.  I knew how to bake; I had a bit of flour and sugar and eggs in our cupboards. I decided in 2014 to try to make baked goods and sell them to try to provide some money. I had learned how to bake from my mother and both grandmothers. It was always an act of love. I started baking cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, Swedish rye and breakfast breads to sell on the weekend. The kids would pull a little red wagon around the neighborhood, knock on doors and sell my baked goods.  We called our bakery Loberg Family Bakery.  We did ok, we would make enough to get grocery money for the week.

 

Growth of Shandy’s Bakery

      As fall approached that year, I decided to expand the baking arena, so I started signing up for tables at craft shows and holiday shows and farmers markets. From then on it is history. The bakery grew and grew.  I had quite a following and business growth by 2017 required me to move from our home into a shared rented kitchen.   It quickly became evident that I was growing too large for a shared kitchen, so Oct 2018 building began for my very own brick and mortar. I opened Shandy’s Bakery at 13811 T Plaza in December 2018.   The whispers of Covid started circling after my brick and mortar had only been open 14 months. The first year of the brick and mortar was very challenging with learning how to bake, and sell, and market in a completely new realm of business. There were many long hours of baking and worrying and stressing. When people started talking about Covid they stopped spending money on luxury/unnecessary items. They were spending all their money on toilet paper; I thought for sure it would be the death of my dream. The week the lockdown happened; I was sure in my mind I would have to close.  Since I was a food product industry like a grocery store, I was allowed to stay open.  Therefore, I kept my doors open and kept going to work baking soul-touching foods. Almost overnight my business launched through the roof. I was swamped by people needing comfort food that brought them good memories. Who would have guessed banana bread can bring such comfort in your life… but it does. I immediately hired an employee and with the help of my children we grew bigger than I ever dreamed.

     Since then, we have won the Omaha World Herald People’s Choice award of “Best Bakery in Omaha” twice and I have been published in the “Omaha Magazine.” I have been published in a national magazine called “Canvas Rebel”.   I have had six years of continual growth in my store front including the years through covid and 10 years straight of bakery growth.  I believe I have had this much success because of our strong faith in God and His plan and because of my strong connection to my customers. We not only produce a high level of comforting baked goods, I connect on a personal level to each of our customers not just a business level. We try to put all of that love from past generations into our product and I believe whole heartly that when people eat out breads or cookies or yummy baked goods, they can taste the love.

Future of Shandy’s Bakery

       Unfortunately after 6 years of being in my brick and mortar the building was bought by another owner and the current owner decided not to renew my lease.  Once again I am faced with a dilemma for the future of the bakery.  I have done extensive research on other open areas unfortunately the cost of retail spaces have climbed into the highly expensive category since I have been in my space.  I tried to move forward on 3 different spaces but kept coming up with the same road block, cost of the build out plus additional rent cost makes it very difficult to turn profit.  On top of the additional cost there would need to be added employees so added labor cost.  All of these things helped me make my decision, I have decided to remodel my garage to be set up like my current baking space and move my equipment to my garage. 

      I have worked with the Douglas County Health department to understand what I can do and what I can’t do with a cottage licensed bakery.  I have established a large online presence so I will be able to transition to online ordering and deliver to a designated store daily.  I will also create a new product line which will be gift boxes which can be shipped nationwide.  With a cottage license I will also be able to do regular pop ups and continue all my sales through farmers markets, craft fairs, vendor fairs, etc.