Wanna Know Who We Are?

      Larry and Bobbie Merritt purchased the shop on September 1, 1979. The Cake Box, as it was known then, was a very small cake shop selling only birthday cakes and wedding cakes. The shop was only 450 sq. feet, with room for only one 4 ft. showcase and no seating. It was located immediately across the street from where Merritt’s Bakery stands today. It had very little business the first few months and of course, no employees except the Merritt’s. The Merritt family consisted of  Larry, Bobbie and three small children, Christian,  Earon, and Michael. Because there was so very little business, there was time to paint and spruce up the front of the shop. Carpet remnants and closeout wallpaper made the little shop bright and cheery, and every customer that came in or called was handled with the utmost of care. Only Bobbie and Larry understood  how important they were to that day’s success. The idea of being more than just a cake shop was born out of necessity, not some grand plan for expansion. During the winter of the first year to supplement their income Larry begun making baked cinnamon rolls, brownies, and a few cookies. This is the money that they bought groceries with and the cake money went to pay the bills. Fear of failure and a young family is a great motivator! The good thing about having no employees or money is that you get to do everything yourself. What better way to improve your skills? With every new idea or product that was added to the product line they had to go out and learn how to do it.

November 1980 --  The Merritt’s were given the opportunity to purchase Mom’s Daylight Donut shop, a typical 70’s donut shop, dark and dreary, but with more space and some loyal customer following. They purchased it, moved their tiny cake shop around the corner, and began learning how to make donuts.  Bobbie and Larry immediately started to work on the new bakery, painting, cleaning, wallpapering, and trying to give it that now familiar look. They bought 4 used showcases for $10.00 a piece and painted the existing ones. All of this made the new shop looks special, at least to them. With the move came the need to hire a couple of employees. The next thirteen years were spent in this location, with several attempts at adding other outlets, wholesale business, and more space and equipment. These were very hard but fruitful years of growth, both with the family as well as the business. They more than doubled the physical size of the building to 2400 sq. ft, sales were more than 13 times the first year and there were now more than 20 employees. Bobbie’s cake decorating skills, which were so evident from the beginning, fueled all of the growth in sales as well as reputation. At the end of these 13 years it was obvious that a new building was needed desperately.

October 5, 1992 --  The Merritt’s began remodeling their current Midtown location. It had been a very rowdy bar and took a tremendous amount of remodeling time and money. December 1, 1993 was opening day of the new location. This new bakery was the realization of many ideas, dreams, hopes, and prayers. Since opening this bakery sales have grown, employees have increased in numbers, reputation and quality have increased, and the family continues to grow. This location has proven to be the springboard to many opportunities and growth for everyone that has worked here. Since moving into this facility we have added a major medical insurance program for all employees, a fully company funded retirement program for those wanting to make a long term commitment, a recent dental plan, and there are more programs on the drawing board.

January 2001 -- Larry Merritt receives his Master Baker Certification. This certification is made by the Retail Baker's Association of America and is the highest level of a three level certification. Requiring both a written and practical test covering two days of rigorous scratch baking, pop formulas and strict product evaluations, the certification is a formidable examination of a baker's knowledge. It is so tough of a test that few pass on their first try or achieve high marks when they do finally pass, Larry did both becoming CMB #110. Having taught himself how to bake out of necessity with no formal training, his achieving the Master Baker Level of certification was a wonderful endorsement of the quality of baking Tulsan's had come to enjoy from Merritt's.

March 15, 2001 -- The Merritt's have long wanted to better service South Tulsa, and beginning in March of 2001 they made this a reality. Merritt's Bakery South is located at 71st & Garnett in the Kenosha Corner Shopping Center. This location features a full line of bakery products just like you have come to expect from Tulsa's Finest Bakery. With a staggering 7400 square feet of space, the South location has 23% more room than the Midtown location. With each bakery baking its own products, fresh baked cakes and pastries are now just around the corner no matter where you live in town. The Merritt's hope you will come and visit either the Midtown or South Tulsa locations depending on which is closer to you.

October 2002 - Larry Merritt becomes the 2003 President of The Retail Bakery Association. This honor is the culmination of over ten years of RBA involvement and service. RBA was originally organized in 1918, and represents retail bakers from all fifty states as well as Puerto Rico. RBA exists to assist small retail bakeries in growing their business through combined knowledge while keeping larger bakeries fresh and innovating with new ideas. Having benefited incalculably from years of RBA & GSWRBA membership, Larry believes in passing on his hard won knowledge to new bakers just starting out. He is the first person in Oklahoma to ever be President of RBA. 

April 2004 - Merritt's Bakery opens their Owasso location on 86th St. N. and 124th E. Ave. In an effort to provide the community that was growing in Owasso with the baked products they had come to expect in Tulsa, the Merritt family opened a 2100 sq. ft. store in late April. Most all of Merritt's favorites including cakes, donuts, pastries, cookies, & sandwiches now are within convenient drive for those north of Tulsa. An new concept size in Merritt's bakeries, the Owasso location can seat approximately 30 folks for breakfast, lunch, or even a late afternoon snack. Warm, rich wood dominates the inside of the store which even includes a stone fireplace for those brisk winter mornings when coffee and donuts are a necessity!

July 2006 - As always, the Merritt family is on the cutting edge of technology in the "real" bakery business. This summer we have added free wireless internet to all our stores as a convenience to our customers, and also a computerized ordering system that will allow for faster,  more efficient order processing. It allows us to order a cake at any time, at any store, and pick it up at any of our 3 stores. This makes ordering and picking up your cake from Merritt's even easier!

October 2007 - Our new office and kitchen facility is now open. Quaintly called, The Fort, this will allow us to coordinate our staff, logistics, quality, and reliability to achieve even higher levels of excellence for the Greater Tulsa area consumers. It will also allow us to open stores nearer to our customers in their individual neighborhoods. It will replace our previous training center giving us even more space to teach a myriad of classes and seminars to bring the best to all of you! If you are serious about a bakery career check out our jobs page here.

March 2008 - Now the Jenks/Riverside area of Tulsa can relish the taste of our delightful cakes and pastries with the opening of our 4th Location at 101st & Riverside Drive. The Riverside Merritt's has lots of room for you and your family as well as a small meeting room for your Bible Study group, birthday or corporate meeting. It also features a full sized wedding showroom to allow you complete comfort and access to order your bridal cake. This new location completes a long term expansion plan for the Merritt family to be able to be accessible to the entire Greater Tulsa area. 

The Merritt family is very involved in the  The Retail Bakery Association (RBA) and Greater Southwest Retail Bakers Association (GSWRBA). Besides being members of both associations, Larry has served on the Board of Directors of both associations, President of GSWRBA, Executive Committee of RBA, and as the President of RBA. For many years Bobbie has served as a guest cake decorator for the RBA workshop program. She has decorated in Sacramento, Los Angeles, Hartford, New Orleans, Springfield, Pittsburgh, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas, and Colorado Springs. Merritt's Bakery is also a founding member of RPIA, a bakery buying group, which allows for innovative purchasing and advance product rollout. This elite group is comprised of many of the top privately held bakeries in America, and brings many new ideas, products, and methods to the Southwest bakery market.

The Merritt family’s goals for the future include business growth, helping their employees to grow personally & professionally, service to the industry through RPIA, RBA, and GSWRBA; and, of course, bringing the best of baking from around the world to Tulsa!