Community Interest
Inspire Series: Scratch Bakes
Inspire Series - Scratch Bakes: Empowering stories about women who
have big ideas and get things done.
Laura Will, equipped with her mother’s KitchenAid mixer and a love for cooking and baking, started her business just baking for friends. In the height of the cupcake boom, Laura’s ability to make beautiful and delicious cupcakes created a demand in her community and as word spread about how Laura’s ‘made from scratch’ cupcakes were making lives sweeter, she and her husband realized they were going to need a bigger kitchen. Within a year, Scratch Bakes outgrew their first location in Ephrata and resettled in a larger space, and now they’ve got a second shop in Lancaster.
Laura says, although her mother wasn’t a baker, she inspired the way that Laura does baking and business. As a pastor’s wife, Laura describes her mother as someone who loved people through whatever she did. In her various roles as a leader, community organizer, fundraiser and potluck hostess, Laura’s mother showed love and care to everyone she engaged with and still managed to put her family first. This inspired Laura to do the same through her cooking, baking and sharing food with her customers, feeling this is an extension of her home and self. She carries her mother’s legacy of nourishing and encouraging others and she’s grateful to have her own family’s support and involvement in Scratch Bakes. For many, what sets Scratch apart is the warmth and kindness they’ve come to expect when they visit.
“I hope that anyone who interacts with me can feel that I’m sincere and genuine and realize how much it means to me and how grateful I am that people choose to share their time with us” Laura says.
She also says, as a self-taught baker and cook, she’s not pretentious about food. “Food is for everybody. I want everyone who visits Scratch to feel welcome, ask questions and feel a collaborative spirit and get involved. I want to be someone who people can come to.” Laura feels so inspired by being able to roll her hobby and passion into her business.
She loves trying new things, testing recipes, collaborating with and even mentoring other women entrepreneurs. Laura Will is inspiring others by the way she pours her heart and soul into everything that she makes. She’s humbled and blessed to be a part of so many people’s precious milestones and celebrations and she’s inspired to keep loving others through her work. “Scratch is me. It’s who I am and what I love and how I love other people.”
You can read about Laura and order baked goods by visiting her website, scratchbakes.com or visiting one of her two bakeries: 11 West Chestnut Street Lancaster, and 3 West Main Street Ephrata.
