While marking 20 years in the bakery business, Iowa City’s DeLuxe Cakes and Pastries is raising donations during October and November for the Iowa City Free Lunch Program. 

Jamie Powers, owner and executive pastry chef, worked in hotels and smaller bakeries in Chicago and Denver before returning to Iowa City to be closer to her family. Initially, Powers struggled with skepticism from the local community, before opening DeLuxe in 2003. 

“I had to take a lot up with the city to be able to get a restaurant-cafe because at that time people were still in the shopping malls and big box stores,” Powers said. 

Powers reflected on her desire to bring people together through local interaction and personal connection that motivated her to open the bakery 20 years ago. 

“The bakery is here for everybody’s life celebrations: birthdays, bridal showers, weddings, even funerals,” she said. “The bakery is also there for people that just want to come down and have a cookie and stare out the window or say hi to somebody — we didn’t realize how important that was until COVID-19.” 

Powers started planning for the bakery’s anniversary in July and wanted to create a campaign that would continue to support the community. After speaking with a close friend and volunteer at the free lunch program, Powers decided to accept donations that would benefit the program. 

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Proceeds from a purchase of DeLuxe’s mixed berry scone will be donated directly to the nonprofit, as well as any amount of donations that are accessible through a QR code in the bakery. 

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Powers said they are roughly 20 percent away from their $5,000 goal, with the campaign continuing throughout November. 

The Iowa City Free Lunch Program began in 1983 to bring free meals to community members in need, according to its website. This year, the nonprofit is celebrating 40 years in the Iowa City area. 

“We’ve evolved so much,” Powers said. “At the end of the day, every person that works here is superhuman and they need to go home and be with their family and friends, but we are showing up every day and giving whoever walks in here the best service we can. That’s not mediocrity, it’s saturated.” 

Heather Frost Hughes, general manager and head pastry chef, began working at the bakery 10 years ago as a student at the University of Iowa. She said the flexibility to create new items is what sets DeLuxe apart from working in a corporate restaurant. 

“We have the flexibility to come up with new products just on a whim,” she said. “There are people that like the $6 Costco gigantic pies, but if you’re looking for something different and absolutely made from scratch, that’s here.”