Small town bakery makes a big impact in community

WAYNE, Neb.— Walking down the streets of Wayne you might have noticed this small bakery, but when you step inside it’s way more than that.

HIS Baking Co. has been in Wayne since 2024 owned and operated by Jaclyn and Chris Beach.

“It started as kind of a side gig and a hobby” Chris said.

The Beaches started their baking journey in 2015 in their Allen home when Jaclyn and her friend started teaching each other.

“You know, we're like, hey, we might actually be okay at this,” Chris said.

“We had a friend really inspire us that was like, you guys just need to..” Jaclyn said. “It started kind of with cinnamon rolls too, before the sourdough. He was like, your cinnamon rolls are the best. I was like, okay.”

“Why don't you guys just open a bakery?” Chris said.

When Vals bakery closed in Wayne, HIS Baking Co. came in to give the community what it had lost.

And according to customers, the bakery has been a staple in town. Bringing in farmers to students at all hours.

“So now it's a pretty good split between really all the age groups from older to college age,” Chris said.

“We have our 5:30 AM farmers that come in here at 5:30 on the dot, and then we have a separate group of farmers that come in at about nine, and then throughout the day, we have tons of Wayne State kids that come in,” Jaclyn said.

The bakery has expanded their offerings to include hot breakfast, coffee, and now energy teas.

Though Jaclyn says her specialties are still sugar cookies, cakes and sourdough.

“The love for sourdough just came from the I think the challenge of it. Yeah, we love sourdough and everybody's like, you don't want to make sourdough it's awful to make,” Jaclyn said. “And it's like, okay, challenge accepted.”

The Beaches continue to challenge their skills with new flavors and additions every week.