Yoder's Bakery and The Hardware Co. restaurant have teamed up in the
hope that it will be a very sweet thing for their customers. Stuart Yoder and his wife
Orpha have been baking homemade desserts for 35 years. Everything is made the old
fashioned way, from scratch, using the best ingredients they can find. They use the
recipes that Orpha grew up with and refined over the years. For the last five years, they
have been baking and selling cakes, pies, breads, and much more at their Yoder's Market
on Route 58 in Woodlawn. Baking at this location, they have developed a regional
reputation for exceptional homemade baked goods.
Stuart Yoder says that "teaming with the Hardware Company will expand our
market and provide the restaurant with homemade desserts that are really hard to beat."
Yoder's treats that will be available to Hardware customers include fruit pies, pecan pie,
chocolate cream pie, cakes, and the very popular coconut cream pie. Customers will be
able to purchase Yoder's baked goods to take home from the bakery case in the front of
the restaurant, as well as order off the menu.
Michael LaCombe, general manager of The Hardware Co., thinks that customers are
hungry for this kind
of homemade dessert. "Everyone is so busy now and there is just no time to bake. And
you just can't find homemade desserts in restaurants anymore—everything comes from
factories. Well, now you can stop by the Hardware restaurant and get that homemade pie
like mother used to make! We have gotten rave reviews on the Yoder's pies we have
started selling—Orpha Yoder and her crew are really incredible bakers."
LaCombe added, "This is the kind of teaming with local businesses that The
Hardware Co. owners have really encouraged. We have had a wonderful partnership with
Tommy Largen at the Red Hill General Store and have sold a lot of their classic hardware
items. And of course, we have used a long list of local businesses to build and maintain
our restaurant—most of our employees and contractors were born and raised in this
county. The owners really put a premium on buying locally and employing people from
our community whenever possible. We kind of see our restaurant as an experiment to see
if we can tap as many local resources as we can and build a business that can compete
with the big chains. This will be a long-term effort. Hopefully, we will succeed and can
serve as a model for other small businesses to follow."
Yoder's baked goods are available now at The Hardware Co. restaurant, located
on Main Street in Hillsville, across from the Carroll County Courthouse. The
restaurant is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.
