Lane's Bakery in Madison is closing Sunday, on Christmas Eve

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Owners and customers of Lane’s Bakery enjoy the last days of the longtime establishment on Madison’s South Side. Dough Puff Pastry

Jill Van Tassel drove all the way from Baraboo with her mother, who turned 95 on Thursday, to buy one last birthday cake at Lane’s Bakery before it closes for good on Sunday.

“They’re priceless. They’re unique. We can’t get them anywhere else but here,” Van Tassel said.

Every year, the pair drive the 50 miles to South Park Street in Madison to buy the one-of-a-kind cake made with real whipped cream. Van Tassel, 72, said she’s been coming to Lane’s since she was a child.

Jill Van Tassel, right, from Baraboo, visits Lane’s Bakery to get a birthday cake for her mother, Ruth Van Tassel, who's turning 95. The pair come every year for the whipped cream cake.

Jill Van Tassel told her mother, Ruth, that the cake she was holding would be their last. “So, we’re going to enjoy every bite.”

Sunday is the last day for Lane’s Bakery, a 69-year-old family business. The beloved bakery is always open until noon on Christmas Eve, even if it falls on a Sunday, when the business is normally closed, so customers can get what they need for the holiday.

Owners Chuck and Becky Lane put the bakery on the market in February. The business, not including the property, was originally listed for $490,000, but the price was dropped to $320,000, which Chuck, 59, said is basically the value of the equipment. The price included Lane’s name, all the recipes, and an offer to keep Chuck on site for six months to train a potential new owner. But nobody stepped in to buy the bakery.

“It’s a lot of work,” said Chuck, who commutes from his home in Janesville and often works 14-hour days. Lately, with only one other baker, he has often been arriving at the bakery at midnight or 1 a.m. to start making the doughnuts, cakes and Kringle.

Chuck, who was the third generation of his family to run Lane’s and has been working there full time for 40 years, said it’s been hard to keep up with demand as the last day nears. He’s never seen volume he’s seen in the past month.

Lane’s has been selling 120 Kringles a day and running out by 10:30 a.m. One recent day, the bakery went through 120 dozen doughnuts.

Chuck Lane, co-owner of Lane’s Bakery, makes Kringle at the bakery. The Danish pastry is a longtime customer favorite at the bakery, which is closing Sunday after 69 years in operation.

The bakery is known statewide for its Kringle, the Danish pastry ring filled with fruit or nuts that Chuck said involves a three-day process to make.

There are 27 varieties on the bakery’s Kringle menu and 27 types of doughnuts. The bakery used to ship items across the country but stopped last year because of staffing issues.

Lane’s has been operating almost continuously since 1954. There was a short gap when Chuck closed Lane’s Bakery and Gifts at 448 Park St. in 2012 and reopened it as Lane’s Bakery & Coffee in 2013 at 2304 S. Park St. in the Villager Mall.

Chuck said his two children, who worked in the bakery while growing up, weren’t interested in taking it over. His son works at Epic Systems in Verona and his daughter is married to a police officer from McFarland and has four children, the oldest she homeschools.

The biggest thing Chuck said he’ll miss are the customers. He likes to make the rounds, often checking in on a group of seniors, many of whom have met two mornings a week going back to Lane’s old location. Still, he’s mostly in the back baking, while Becky’s up front at the counter, often engaging in conversations with regulars. She also does another three hours of paperwork at home each day, Chuck said.

Becky Lane, co-owner of Lane’s Bakery, right, helps customer Mary Sue Oppermann with an order. The bakery hasn't been able to keep up with demand as customers file in for one last treat.

Becky said it’s been hard to say goodbye to customers, but also tough to part ways with their 10 employees. “They’re family. Everybody’s family here,” she said. “That’s why this is so bittersweet. I know it’s the right time for us to do this. But again, it’s not the right time.”

She said closing Lane’s has been a hard decision. “It really is a labor of love. I don’t mind getting up early. I don’t mind staying late.”

After pulling herself away from a conversation with a customer she’d never met before, Becky said she never considers anyone who comes in a stranger. They’re “soon-to-be friends.”

Kim Rice, 44, who has worked at Lane’s for five years, loves to bake and used to do decorating but started working up front when the bakery became short-staffed.

She knows many customers by name. She knows their families and what they’re going to order. She said she’s going to miss everyone who’s supported the bakery.

Rice said she likes to satisfy her own sweet tooth with cronuts, which are like doughnuts, but made from croissant-like dough. Those, she said, are probably her favorite, followed by a classic sprinkle doughnut, and an M&M cookie. “Everything is good.”

Donald Goodweiler, 76, of Middleton, said he’s been coming to Lane’s for about 40 years and was disappointed when told that the bakery’s days are likely numbered. He said he doesn’t have a backup plan yet.

“This is a special sort of place that makes special sort of things,” he said, noting that he likes the Christmas cookies and coffee cakes and about once a month brings one for his employees at Hegg Accounting.

“They bake things the old-fashioned way,” Goodweiler said. “It doesn’t ever seem like it’s commercial. It seems like somebody’s taking the effort and the time to make it the right way.”

Chuck Lane talks with employee Kim Rice. Lane is the third generation of his family to run the bakery, which will close Sunday.

Lane’s Bakery employee Kim Rice, right, interacts with a table of regular customers.

Customers line up as a fresh batch of Kringle is brought out to the front.

"They're family. Everybody's family here, That's why this is so bittersweet."

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Owners and customers of Lane’s Bakery enjoy the last days of the longtime establishment on Madison’s South Side.

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