SPRINGFIELD, MO — A bakery is only as good as its best product, and when the hands that shape those offerings are taken care of, so is the end result. At Neighbor’s Mill Bakery & Cafe in Springfield, MO, bread has been center stage for a score and then some, showcased in every facet of the business, with a familial culture serving as support.
Neighbor’s Mill was the brainchild of Mike Nabors, who always dreamed of having a bakery cafe but knew that most people who open restaurants with no experience fail. Instead, he and his wife, Karin, bought a Dairy Queen in the ’90s and spent the next decade learning the ins and outs of restaurant operations.
In 2000, they opened the flagship Neighbor’s Mill location in Harrison, AR. While their children Lauren and Cary were heavily involved in the store’s opening, Lauren had no interest in permanently joining the family business.
“I always said I would never be involved in the restaurant,” Lauren recalled. “You say you’re never going to do what your family does, so I was like, ‘Absolutely not, don’t want to do it, not interested.’”
Instead, she moved to New York to attend the Institute of Culinary Education. Lauren met her now-husband Clif Brown, who worked the front counter at Levain Bakery’s Harlem location. The two immersed themselves in the local food scene, shaping their perspective on the industry and gaining hands-on experience.
Eventually, the couple returned to the Midwest and entertained the idea of joining the family business but on their own terms.
“We knew we didn’t want to move to Harrison,” Lauren said. “If we moved, we wanted to open a separate location outside of Arkansas.”
The pair moved to Springfield, MO, in 2015 and became the owners and operators of the second Neighbor’s Mill location, which opened in January 2016. Not only did the 5,565-square-foot bakery cafe mark an opportunity to grow the business, but it was also a way to affirm the longevity of Mike’s original goal.
“Part of her dad’s vision was that Neighbor’s Mill would become franchised,” Clif said. “That was also a big part of us being involved in the first location outside of Harrison. It needed to be family-owned, and we needed to see if what he had built wasn’t a crazy fluke but could sustain itself.”
Though the robust menu includes a variety of sandwiches, soups and salads, bread takes top billing at Neighbor’s Mill, continuing Mike and Karin’s philosophy of it being “the star of the show.”
The bakery offers about 25 rotating varieties of pan-style loaves, most of which are used in the cafe’s menu items. Among its most popular are the Neighbor’s Best nine-grain loaf, Bronze Honey Wheat and two sourdough varieties: Tim’s Sourdough, named after Harrison’s original head baker Tim Stretton, and Springfield Sourdough, which uses no commercial yeast and is vegan.
Neighbor’s Mill also offers various sweet breads, muffins, cookies, scones, bagels, cakes, brownies, cupcakes, pies, sticky buns and laminated baked goods.
“With the second generation, it’s not only about carrying on what Mike and Karin have done but also building on top of that,” Clif said. “The majority of our menu is the same as the Harrison bakery, but there are some things that sell in Harrison that don’t sell here, and some things that sell here that wouldn’t sell in Harrison. It’s bizarre, but that’s also been interesting to help our bakery evolve.”
An example is Springfield customers’ interest in spelt muffins and loaves, making them among the most popular offerings at this location but a special-order-only product in Harrison.
The environment cultivated here lends itself well to innovation; employees often pitch new product concepts to Lauren and Clif.
“I’ve warned Clif, ‘You’ve given me too much freedom,’” said Tim Jones, head baker. “He essentially gives me guidelines, like ‘Don’t go this far in one direction; stay in the middle,’ but that’s a wide road. At any point, I can say, ‘Hey, I want to do this.’ And he goes, ‘You know how to do it? OK, do it.’”
This story has been adapted from the September | Q3 2024 issue of Craft to Crumb. Read the full story in the digital edition here.
