KANSAS CITY, MO — When brother-and-sister duo Jeff and Mollie Hirleman (now Lothman) dreamt of expanding McLain’s Bakery, part of their vision was to reinvigorate the cake department. While Mollie knew it would be a labor of love, she was confident there was a need for custom treats that showcased her team’s passion.
This proved to be true, and over time, Mollie and Jeff devoted two locations — Lawrence, KS, and Waldo, MO — as full cakeries.
“Our cake manager, Jenny Marker, has been an integral part of the business,” Jeff said. “She’s a very driven and creative individual, and she saw the potential for the original cakery and the goals we had for it.”
A big boom for cakes
When Jeff and Mollie took over the business, the average number of cakes ordered for a weekend was five. Today? More than 150. The hand-crafted cakes have earned national attention … and justifiably so.
For those looking at the McLain’s cakery social media pages, it would be hard to miss the pop culture references filling each feed.
Jenny, her team and the marketing department work closely together and have an ironclad grip on pop culture and how to incorporate it into their cake and cookie designs. Whether it be Taylor Swift lyrics, Severance references or even Kansas City Chiefs’ coach Andy Reid’s frozen mustache from a January 2024 NFL Wild Card game, the team behind the bench is well-equipped and trained to quickly whip up a mainstream treat with the classic McLain’s touch.
“We have a lot of guests who have gotten every single birthday cake from McLain’s since the bakery opened 80 years ago,” Jenny said. “The cakery team treats every order with close attention to detail. Being able to celebrate with people in our community is exciting. It’s a dream to come into work, be creative and make fun designs that bring people joy.”
Bring on the automation
As business ramped up for all three segments of the McLain’s brand, the need for automation became apparent. McLain’s classic cookies and Cupcookies are staple menu items, and their popularity confirmed that investing in equipment would optimize production.
“The quality needs to taste the same across six bakeries, which was a huge growing pain as we added more stores,” Mollie said. “A large number of our customers go to multiple locations throughout the city, and they know our cookies. They’ll tell us when a cookie tastes different.”
To maintain product quality and consistency, the Hirlemans opened a commissary bakery in 2022.
The facility is just up the street from the Waldo bakery. With 5,000 square feet for production — and 1,200 square feet for office and ancillary purposes — the space is used to craft the bakery’s breads, which include sourdough and 9-grain, as well as English muffins and doughs for sweet goods, pastries and cookies.
The first purchase for the commissary was a Deighton Formatic cookie depositor. Prior to adding it, bakers hand-scooped all the cookies, which posed concerns for size consistency and wrist injury. Now, the team can fully allocate the prepped dough to the cookie depositor, and this, according to Jeff, is the key to producing the freshest cookie possible.
“With our Cupcookies, we sell anywhere from 50 dozen to 100 dozen a day, and that’s just at one store,” Jeff said. “The cookie depositor can do 2,800 cookies in an hour, which has significantly sped up the process.”
Mollie and Jeff lean into automation to ensure baker wellbeing and production efficiency. The majority of doughs are made at the commissary, and adding a RONDO dough sheeter and Esmach tilting dough mixer was a major game changer.
“Now, our bakers don’t have to consistently bend over,” Mollie said. “We’ve put an emphasis on our employees’ longevity, as well as efficiency, and the results have been well worth it.”
For a bakery that has been in growth mode over the past 11 years, Mollie and Jeff now plan to let the dust settle. The two will focus on maintaining cohesiveness between all six locations, investing in their team and remembering the heart of the business.
“The bakery evokes family memories and special occasions,” Mollie said. “We are part of people’s lives from start to finish in a lot of ways. People come to McLain’s to celebrate an engagement, a baby gender reveal, a first birthday. They celebrate 21st birthdays and retirement parties. They spend their holidays with us. We get to be — and always will be — there for those sweet moments of everyday life.”
This story has been adapted from the June | Q2 2025 Craft to Crumb mini-mag. Read the full story in the digital issue here.
