Image From Bev's Donut Shop Facebook Page
On Wednesday February 7th, Bev’s Donut Shop (previously Bev’s City Bakery) announced they will be reopening in the Hatchery Row in Battle Lake later this year.
For Bev’s owner McKayla Schicker, the journey to reopening has been a long one.
Bev’s City Bakery originally opened in the summer of 2022, but it’s history goes back to Bev’s Bakery and Coffee Shop in Battle Lake.
Shicker’s mom Janet, started Bev’s Bakery and Coffee and owned the company until 2017, before regaining the business in early 2019.
Bev’s has used fully homemade recipes that are over one hundred years old.
Schicker helped her mom in the shop from a young age, and developed a love for the bakery.
Unfortunately, the circumstances around Janet regaining ownership led to issues behind the scenes, where Janet had to sell the building fully, and Bev’s Bakery and Coffee closed its doors for good.
At this point in her life, Schicker knew she wanted to get back into the bakery business, so in 2022, she opened the new Bev’s City Bakery in Fergus Falls, where the company would win city awards for “Best Donuts,” “Best Carmel Rolls” and “Best Bakery.”
Things were going well, and eventually the decision was made to relocate to another building in Fergus, however, the company ran into an issue; the building that they were going to relocate to was not up to code for a bakery.
Schicker looked for multiple places, but none were up to code and the company could not afford the major renovations needed.
Around this time, Schicker also gave birth to her fifth child, so in June of 2023, she announced that Bev’s City Bakery would not reopen.
Since then, while not a priority for her, Schicker had been keeping an eye out, waiting to see if missing pieces would fall into place.
Now, Schicker has found Bev’s new home back in Battle Lake, and with it, some changes are happening.
Previously Bev’s had a wide variety of baked goods, however Schicker says that she felt the wide range caused quality to go down across the board, so the decision was made to focus on donuts and caramel rolls, and to change the name to reflect that.
Construction for the bakery is ongoing, but Shicker hopes to open the doors sometime after April of this year.
She understands that loyal customers might be angry or confused about the relocation and the rebranding changes, however she hopes that the bakery and its recipes returning in any shape or form is a good thing.
Through much turmoil, Bev’s has continued to learn from previous missteps, and continues to keep moving forward and bring people delicious goods.
Their story is a reminder to businesses that closed doors doesn’t always have to be the end, and to people that perseverance and passion can push past any obstacle.