ROUND LAKE BEACH – A third-generation, local favorite cakery soon will be expanding its business to another location in Lake County.
Lovin Oven Cakery, located in the Sweetwater Crossing shopping center at 2207 N. Route 83, in Round Lake Beach, will open another set of doors Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 355 Milwaukee Avenue, in Libertyville.
"[My dad] always had it in the back of his mind that [Libertyville] would be a good place to have a bakery," Matt Slove said of the store owner, Ken Slove. "Libertyville has traditionally supported bakeries in its history. There have been two or three really good bakeries that we know of."
Matt Slove, a third generation Slove baker who is now the store's general manager, said Lovin Oven also had looked at opening in Antioch or Mundelein, but its customer base had moved to Libertyville.
The fact that Lovin Oven is opening further south in Lake County is a bit disappointing to some repeat customers.
"The quality of everything I've ever bought here has been excellent, from sugar cookies to the butter braided coffee cakes," John Shaffer of Antioch said. "I think they'll do great in Libertyville. I just wish they had come to Antioch so I wouldn't have to drive so far."
Slove said that though the cakery does have a full array of bakery items, things that Shaffer and other customers take full advantage of, custom, specialty cakes make up 50 percent of the store's sales.
And it's no wonder. The cakery offers 15 varieties of cake choices, plus different fillings and frostings to allow a customer to build exactly the kind of cake they want for their special occasion. Lovin Oven usually bakes 250 to 300 cakes – including 30 wedding cakes – a week, Slove said, with that number jumping to nearly 1,000 during graduation season.
"We strive very hard to make the cake as memorable as the event you're having it for," Slove said.
Slove recalled one cake ordered by a woman for her husband's 20th anniversary at his manufacturing job, which was modeled after a machine that had been at the man's company since day one.
"She called back screaming and yelling – literally screaming – 'I can't believe how good this is!'" Slove said.
Lovin Oven will continue that kind of customer service in its new location, as well, Slove said, though certain aspects of the store will be different.
The Libertyville store will provide fresh merchandise each day, but all of the baking will continue to be done in Round Lake Beach. Lovin Oven trucks will deliver to Libertyville several times a day to ensure fresh products, Slove said. The new store also will not have deli or candy options, so as not to step on the feet of other local businesses in the area.
Other than that, the new location will be as close to a carbon copy of the Round Lake Beach shop as possible, Slove said, complete with a hand painted menu inscribed on the wall of the store.
While much of Lovin Oven's business is based on repeat customers, September saw 15 percent of sales from new customers, Slove said – proof that Lovin Oven's customer base continues to grow.
And with a new location, customers like John Bogart of Ingleside can enjoy Lovin Oven cakes no matter where they travel.
"If you order a cake from here, I'm telling you, you can't get one like it anywhere else [up here]," Bogart said. "I come out of my way to come here. There's Jewel, Dominicks, but I come here. You can't beat the quality."