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Hello!
Nik Nak Bakery is a Cottage Bakery in Omaha, NE & run by me, Nikki McNeil. Baking is a way for me to be artistic and relieve stress through small-batch homebaked goods. Below is probably too long of a story of how and why I created Nik Nak Bakery. I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for being here.
Welcome to the Nik Nak Bakery website! Thank you for stopping by and checking my passion out. I have no idea if anyone will read this, but on the off chance you do, I thought I should write a little (jk, it’s kind of long) something about how Nik Nak Bakery came to be.
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First, let me introduce myself. My name is Nikki McNeil, and I love to bake (shocking, I know). I am a nurse, love to be active, and love my 18-year-old beagle. Her name is Molly, & she’s the best pal a gal could ask for. My interest in being creative and baking began at a young age and has grown ever since. For me, Nik Nak Bakery has been a way to relieve stress while also being able to provide true homemade baked goods to folks in the Omaha Metro area. Everything I make is completely homemade and hand-decorated. I am the owner, creator, baker, artist, decorator, dishwasher, accountant, social media expert, and delivery woman of Nik Nak Bakery. I measure out all the ingredients, test the pastries to ensure the best quality, scrub all the dishes, research the newest trends, calculate costs, market & network myself. This business is a labor of love and has been so rewarding to hear about how people love my baked goods.
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Now that we’ve gotten through the boring stuff, I’d like to recognize this bakery as a hobby, passion, and accumulation of all the people who have impacted me throughout my life. They deserve to know how they inspired and continue to inspire me because, without them, I wouldn't be here, and I wouldn't be the person I am today and the person I will be tomorrow.
The journey to starting Nik Nak Bakery began from the time I was growing up. I have had several artistic influences in my life including my Mom, Grandpa Ron, & Aunt Maggie. Without knowing it, they all showed me different ways to be creative as I grew up. My mom decorated cookies for both my brother's and my classes each year in elementary school. She never let us help because of her great attention to detail and wanting all of them to be the exact same; that trait has worn off on me throughout the years. Of course, I have to say she's my mom as well. She raised me to be just as independent, hard-working, and strong-willed as she is. I know I don't say it enough, but thanks for being my mom and teaching me every day. My Grandpa Ron was also a huge artistic influence in my life. One year, he randomly made larger-than-life pumpkins and snowmen out of cardboard boxes, Saran wrap, and spray-painted them just for the fun of it. He taught me to think outside the box (ha, no pun intended) and not care what others think. I love and miss you, Grandpa. And, of course, my Aunt Maggie is an artist and utilizes oil paints. She taught me how to utilize color and is never afraid of a little mess. I have always loved art and utilizing my creativity. I am sure others have influenced me artistically as well, and if you know you have, thank you. I love and appreciate you all!
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A huge shoutout has to go out to my Aunt Francie. She is the one who taught me to bake. I would spend my weekends over at her house baking. My love for baking started with the Taste-Like-Christmas Sugar Cookie recipe. (Also, I know the name is long, but every single person who tries them says they taste like Christmas, hence the name). I tried these cookies years before actually baking them with my Aunt Francie at my cousin's birthday party and ended up making them together one day. After we made those cookies, I was hooked and she taught me several other recipes, tips, tricks, and how to make each baked good with love. I will never forget making my first apple pie with her. We took it to a family function, and everyone raved about it. Afterward, she said to me, “I really believe you can taste the love you put into things you make, and you put so much time and love into the pie by slicing each of those apples and rolling out the crust so that you could taste it.” So, thank you, Aunt Francie, I truly would not be able to start this business and have developed this passion without having you in my life.
I have to speak about my nursing career in this About Me. I was a student-athlete and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology in May 2019. Then, I continued my education, and I began my journey through an accelerated nursing program in January 2020. We all know what happened next. In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began. My one-year nursing program transitioned to online classes and clinicals. Later in the year, we made up missed clinical hours, and my class graduated on time in December 2020. I took my boards, got a job, and loved every minute of it for the first three months because it was new and was learning so much, but that was when the burnout started to settle in. I still enjoy being a nurse in some ways, but the pandemic changed nursing, healthcare, and people forever. I don’t know what nursing was like before the pandemic, but my nurse friends tell me it was different. Being a new nurse during the pandemic was awful.
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When seasoned nurses say to you, “Yeah, it never used to be this way” and “I used to actually enjoy coming to work, and now I get disgusted even when I drive by,” it wears on you. When you bend over back for almost 13 hours a day for an 83-year-old that yells at you and never says thank you but you still have to treat them with respect and wipe their butt while also taking care of five other patients, it wears on you. Lastly, when you have managers more concerned about satisfaction scores when you quite literally cannot give anything more and haven’t eaten all day because you’re that busy caring for others and don't have a chance to take a minute and care for yourself, it wears on you.
So, after a year and a half of bending over backward for other people. I decided to do something for myself and start this business. In high school, I was the weirdo always carrying around a Tupperware container with cupcakes in it and would hand them out to friends and teachers throughout the day. In July of 2022, my high school friends and I were together, and, in separate conversations, two of them asked me, “So, Nikki, when are you going to start your bakery?” And, here we are, I started the Nik Nak Bakery Instagram a few days later and the Facebook page a month later.
I have no idea what this business will turn into, but I can tell you I love doing it. This is a creative outlet for me I do not get through nursing. My mom always says to me, “Nursing is a thankless job.” But should it be? People say thank you when I deliver them their baked goods, and that means something to me. Shouldn't it mean something when I wipe a patient's butt for the 17th time in a day? This business makes me feel like I’m not being taken for granted, but as a nurse, I feel taken for granted every single day. So, the next time you run into a nurse, thank them and help them realize they aren’t being taken for granted and are valued in our society. I promise they need to hear it.
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With that, as a small business owner, creator, artist, and baker, I promise you I will never take an inquiry, order, and opportunity for granted because as a nurse, I have been, and that’s not something I want any of my clients to feel.
Lastly, my last set of Thank Yous. To my brother, thank you for helping me and supporting me. Your drive, work ethic, and success inspire me to be better and go after what want. To my Grandma Jo, I love you more than you could ever know. You're my best friend, and the person I can always turn to. To my dad, thanks for letting me share the good, vent to you about my crappy days, and encouraging and reminding me of the importance of pursuing something that makes me happy. To my other aunts, uncles, and cousins, of whom I legitimately have too many to name all, thank you for showing me how hard work can lead to success in your own careers and businesses. To my cousin Kaitlin, thanks for giving me the opportunity to make cupcakes for your wedding, believing in me, and hyping me up every single day. And, of course, my friends, specifically Syd, Audrey, Laura, Kayla, Roger, Katie, Noah, Emily, Eddie, Stephanie, Mileah, and Jayci (Bah, I really hope I didn't forget anyone; if I did, I'm sorry but know you're included as well), thank you for being my friend, supporting me, testing recipes for me, and dealing with my ridiculousness. To my teachers and coaches, who have inspired, coached, and invested in me for years, thank you. Lastly, thank you to all of the clients who have already supported me by inquiring, ordering, or showing any type of support. It truly means the world to me.
Please forgive me for this About Me is basically a novel, but I hope you made it to this point and understand a bit more about this business and me. Thanks again for reading.
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With Love & Thanks,
Nikki
Photos by Jayci Foster Photography
Contact
Nik Nak Bakery is always looking for new and exciting opportunities. Let's connect. Feel free to email us or fill out the form at the bottom of our home page!