“Bake the world a better place.” Not just “Make the world a better place,” but “Bake the world a better place.”
That sounds like a baker’s motto, and it would certainly apply to this bakery and gift shop in rural Kansas.
Nan Lisher is owner and founder of Elsie Grace’s Gift Shoppe and Bakery in Frankfort. As a kid, Nan was close to her grandmother, Elsie Grace Tilley. “She taught me a lot about baking and cooking,” Nan said. Nan and her cousin Sara even dreamed of running a restaurant someday.
That dream came true when Nan opened Nan’s Cooking Nook in Frankfort, with Sara’s help. They served homemade food. Their pies were especially popular. The restaurant operated until 1992.
Then Nan started formulating dry mixes for her snack dips, soups and pies. She formed a company to market these products and named it in honor of her grandmother, Elsie Grace’s. Nan and Sara marketed the dry mixes across northeast Kansas.
In downtown Frankfort, an older lady operated a small gift shop and fudge factory. One day in 1999, Nan stopped in to visit the lady and said, “If you ever want to sell this place, keep me in mind.” One month later, Nan owned the store. Talk about good timing.
Elsie Grace’s Gift Shoppe and Bakery now operates in that location, with Nan and her cousin Sara Colvin. The store offers a wide variety of gifts plus homemade pies, hot lunch meals and fudge. “There’s been fudge produced at this corner of town for 32 years,” Nan said.
