These days, Hinckley resident Fran Kriesch has an infectious smile permanently etched on her
face about becoming a home baker and sharing her talents with hundreds of others.
“I started this a while back. A friend of mine came by and said she wanted my cinnamon rolls
for her son’s birthday ‘but I want to pay you for them,’” Kriesch recalled. “I said ‘No, I’ll just
make them for you,’ but she said she was going to pay for them and added she wanted me to think about starting a business with these rolls.”
That endorsement led to the founding of Fran’s Cozy Kitchen, a home baking business that has been gaining traction now for more than three years, thanks largely to the benefits of word-of-mouth and living in a small town.
Kriesch, 50, said she used to work as an elementary school teacher in Kentucky and later moved to DeKalb and Northern Illinois University where she was supervising students in the elementary education program.
“That was before I had my two sons, Nathan and Seth, and once they were born, I stopped working to stay home with them,” Kriesch said. “I committed to this business three years ago. I love baking. It brings me so much joy and I was realizing after my friend suggested this that I might be able to meet a niche in our local community while also doing something that I absolutely love.”
She said she got help from a family member and made sure she did everything right in launching Fran’s Cozy Kitchen.
“My brother is a business guy and I called him and got tips on what to do and registered with the
Secretary of State, took the class here from the DeKalb County Health Department and the exam
to pass the food safety manager class. I just started rolling,” she said. “We’ve had so much fun.”
She said that Hinckley is “a small-town community, so we’re meeting a small niche here locally.”
“My husband said we have to get a website for you – he’s my web designer – and he got that
going. I started out with just the rolls,” Kriesch added. “The rolls are decadent, gooey, yummy,
amazing. There’s a special icing that I can’t give the recipe for, but people love them.”
Now firmly entrenched in the holiday season, Kriesch said she is working at a frenetic pace trying to keep up with the demand.
“This is one of my busiest times of the year for sure, and we had great success over Thanksgiving,” Kriesch said. “In terms of my business, about 60% of my annual sales happen right now between Thanksgiving and Christmas, although people do want them for different occasions during the year.”
Without a kitchen staff, Kriesch said her only strategy for trying to keep up with demand is simply “to get up earlier.”
During the holiday season, Kriesch said she makes 12 pans of rolls a day, with a dozen rolls in each pan.
“It’s a seven-hour process,” she said.
“During the normal rest of the year, I’m working two to three days a week with baking and now it’s every day except Sunday,” she said. “Last year, I sold out because the demand was so high for the cinnamon rolls and I have to start earlier to keep up with demand. I sold 300 pans of rolls but we also added the cookie business which includes oatmeal chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and regular oatmeal.”
After receiving feedback from customers, Kriesch said she has also added a gluten-free salted caramel Rice Krispies treat and this season introduced a Christmas dough cookie which “has red and green M&Ms in it.”
“Those have been really popular and it’s a toss up as to whether the cinnamon rolls or the cookies are more popular,” she said.
The origin of the cinnamon roll recipe comes from a formula Kriesch said she found online “and
then I did some tweaking to make it my own.”
Karen Yaggie of Hinckley found out about Kriesch and her treats at a local event and has become a big fan of the cinnamon rolls.
“We both live in the same town. I saw her and got a chance to taste her cinnamon rolls at a community event and from there I was hooked,” Yaggie said.
For more on Fran’s Cozy Kitchen, go to www.franscozykitchen.com or call 815-508-9636.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.