MUNCIE, Ind. — That sweet smell of fresh donuts is almost instant when walking in the doors of Concannon’s bakery. The doors first opened in 1959, with Mike and Wonda Concannon starting their bakery in the heart of downtown Muncie. Since its opening, the bakery was always a family business and continued to be so when their son Mike bought the bakery and kept it running.
Now, Mike and his son Mark work together running the bakery. Mark has been in the kitchen working for as long as he can remember.
“Growing up, I was here all the time, pretty much,” Mark said. “I had pictures of me back when I was five, four, three years-old back in the back working at the original location.”
The downtown location was home for Concannons Bakery until 2009 when they moved to the corner of North Morrison Road and West Bethel Ave. At their new location, the Concannons have worked hard to keep their legacy alive while also serving fresh baked goods to the community.
“Regarding the legacy of the bakery, a lot of people hope for something like that to happen with their family. With tradition and things like that it's great, but I don’t think a lot of people realize how hard it is to get that balance accomplished,” Mark said.
Even after moving locations, the popularity of Concannons seemed to only grow. Over the years the bakery has been visited by countless familiar faces. Concannons employees have said that many Muncie locals who have moved away still find a way to come back for a donut or two. While the donuts are a key to their popularity, it's not all that the Concannons are cooking up.
“You gotta look at, I think, the bigger picture. I mean without the donuts, the coffee, and the popcorn, and the chocolate and the candies we make, it brings everything together. Especially for those holiday seasons when people come in for a wide range of goods,” Mark said.
While the Concannons have worked to bake their love into the food they sell the community, Muncie has done its best to give back to them. Lyndsey, who grew up in Muncie, now works at the bakery as the Head Cake Decorator. She remembers when the bakery was first around and enjoys being able to work there now.
“I went to Muncie Central High School, and I remember every day going across the street to Concannon’s to get like a donut, milk or like cookies. And then to be able to get older and now come into Concannon’s and ask for a cake decorating job, it’s just amazing,” Lyndsey said.
At the heart of the bakery, mixed with family, community and friends, is a tradition unlike any other. Sarah McCartney has worked for the Concannons and moved up the ladder from donut girl and now to Head Manager. She said that while growing alongside the business, they have one of those American traditions you can’t really find anywhere else.
The Concannon tradition and legacy has also allowed for other families to make visiting the bakery a tradition of their own.
“It keeps things close knit and together, that family aspect,” McCartney said. “To know you’ve got that togetherness, to know you’ve got a little bit of history. It’s also just so great to see your family do that growing up, and now your children come in, and I mean my family comes in to visit and we make it a little tradition of our own.”
As the Concannon family work to evolve the bakery more into the future, they have found recent success in selling their baked goods online. Their website, Concannon’s Pastry Shop, is one innovation they’ve worked on alongside the large digital sign outside the front of the bakery. No matter how they evolve, one thing stays the same, and that is knowing people's enjoyment of a fresh donut.
“I mean, the biggest thing is you’ve gotta have a fresh donut, and you know, we make all of our donuts fresh daily. It pretty much comes right out of the fryer and into the glazer and goes straight into the case or even a box,” Mark said.
Contact Aiden Murray with comments at aiden.murray@bsu.edu.
