Editor's note: Muncie Origins is a Ball State Daily News series profiling various businesses that originated in Muncie.
It’s like a metaphorical kid in a candy store’s dream: The smell of icing, sugar and candy fills the noses of customers within their first steps into Concannon’s Bakery.
Rich and creamy chocolate beckons customers from behind glass casing. Golden glazed donuts tempt all who pass by. The smell of strong and tantalizing coffee fills the air.
The bakery, which J. Michael and Wanda Concannon started in 1959, is home to around 120 employees between its two locations.
“Back then, there were bakeries everywhere, and compared to now, there’s not," Marc Concannon said. "We’re arguably one of the largest bakeries in Indiana.”
Marc, whose grandparents started the business, has been working at the bakery for a long time.
“My grandpa probably didn’t want to work in a factory,” he said. “I mean, in 1959, the factory business was really booming, and my grandpa, he would open up the store and he would [serve], like, 500 customers in the morning.”
Marc’s dad took over the business in 1998, and he has been following in his father’s footsteps since.
“My dad has added three times onto [the downtown] location,” he said. “He also started doing convenience stores and delivery routes and stuff like that.”
Concannon's now has six delivery trucks in service that drive to more than 90 gas stations and other stops. This is a vast jump from just one delivery truck when Marc was little.
“I’ve worked in here since I was in seventh grade,” Marc said. “When I was in high school, I started working and baking. So I’d get done with school, then I’d come in.”
Marc, who works primarily in the downtown location, is in charge of the candy, popcorn, donut, cake and cookie productions.
“Being a family business, I guess it’s all coming back on you more so than if you work for somebody,” Marc said. “Here, you quit, and you still have the empty building. It’s all on you. You take on all the risk.”
Concannon’s is a family-oriented business, and it shows in the admiration and appreciation of its staff.
Catherine Reynolds, a Ball State graduate, has worked for Concannon's for a little more than a month.
“I feel like a little kid working here. It’s so much fun,” she said.
Reynolds calls Concannon's a “local success story.”
“They aren’t a big chain store, and it’s second generation,” she said. “So, it’s not just this one guy who’s just barely making it. It’s like a very viable business, and the second generation built [one of the] stores.”
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