Larry Merritt, CMB
Having started in 1979 with no baking experience, Larry Merritt has learned from many mistakes, but learned well. Now with four stores in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Merritt’s Bakery is the largest bakery in the Greater Southwest Association. Offering full-line baking with a emphasis in custom decorated cakes, Merritt’s has expanded sales more than 100 times from their first 450 ft2 store. His story is filled with principles of improvement and encouragement for bakers of all shapes and sizes.
Now an Ex-President of the Retail Baker’s Association, Larry Merritt has embodied the American dream of self-motivated success as in his Certified Master Baker certification. Having benefited incalculably from years of RBA & GSWRBA membership, Larry believes in passing on his hard won knowledge to new bakers just starting out. Regardless of facing supplier dilemmas, 10 feet tall drifts of snow, or down economic times, Larry shows it is possible to survive and even grow from the problem.
Bobbie Merritt
Bobbie had no formal training in cake decorating, but her talents were evident from the very beginning as she became an accomplished decorator very quickly. During the early years of Merritt’s Bakery she was the only cake decorator and developed her own unique style which is still being taught and copied by the very best decorators in the country. For many years Bobbie traveled the United State as a guest cake decorator for the very successful regional workshops hosted by the Retail Bakers of America. She has decorated in front of aspiring young professionals in Sacramento, Los Angeles, Hartford, New Orleans, Springfield, Pittsburgh, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, and Colorado Springs.
After a debilitating injury, Bobbie stopped production decorating to concentrate on teaching and training of young decorators for Merritt’s Bakery. Merritt’s Bakery now boasts of having ten of the best cake decorators in the Southwest, most of which have been taught by Bobbie herself. She is still extremely active in Retail Bakers of America and is a sought after speaker at different conventions and workshops as well as giving advice to struggling bakery owners online through the Retail Bakers of America’s Baker to Baker egroup. For the past 5 years, she has been a guest judge for the Oklahoma Sugar Art Competition hosted by Mrs. Kerry Vincent and televised on the Food Network.
Bobbie's brother, Brett Stewart, is the Merritt's Baking Manager. He oversees the daily production of cakes, breads, donuts & all the baked goodies! And their son, Christian, supervises the interactions between all the stores to make sure everything you have come to expect from Merritt's Bakery is prompt and perfect.
