PattiCakes Won’t Reopen After Fire, Owner Pursuing New Project

The Jan. 15 fire at PattiCakes Bakery in downtown Conway has resulted in the shutdown of both locations (Kurt Jones)

PattiCakes Bakery announced that it will not reopen after a fire destroyed its downtown Conway location in January.

The location at 1137 Front St. housed all the production equipment for the bakery’s two locations in the city, forcing both to shut down.

Owner Patti Stobaugh said Monday in a Facebook post that the decision to move on from the business after 18 years marked a “very tough day.”

“The reality is I will be 66 tomorrow,” she wrote. “If we rebuilt our warehouse downtown, I would be at least 67 when it was time to reassemble a new team. There are so many moving parts in food service. I simply don’t have the ‘want to’ for this massive undertaking.”

Arkansas Business reported that the building, bought by Patti’s husband David in 1990, was insured for up to $1.25 million. In addition, insurance covers pay for the bakery’s 29 employees put out of work by the closure.

According to the Facebook post, Brad Lacy, president and CEO of the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce, suggested building a boutique micro-hotel at the former Patticakes site downtown.

“We are pursuing this and are really quite excited about it,” Patti Stobaugh wrote. “The idea is retail on the first floor & 8 rooms on the second floor. The new structure would take up the front half of the lot with gated parking in the back. If this project reaches fruition, we will post about it here.”

The other PattiCakes location at 805 Donaghey Ave. will be converted into a production site for its neighbor, Stoby’s Restaurant, which is owned by David Stobaugh.