A Warrick County Staple Reopening Under New Ownership

Pioneer Bakery in Boonville closed its doors earlier this year, but fans of their doughnuts will be delighted to know that the bakery is reopening in 2025.

On East Gum Street, in the middle of a Boonville neighborhood sits Pioneer Bakery. It doesn't have multiple locations in high-traffic areas like Donut Bank. There's no neon sign flashing outside to let passersby know a fresh, hot batch of donuts just came out of the fryer like Krispy Kreme. Its name isn't recognized nationally like Dunkin'. It's just a small, simple rectangular building the size of a small house that's been serving the residents of Boonville for about 65 years. While it isn't a massive chain, ask any Boonville resident who's been there, and they'll tell you there's no better donut around.

Pioneer Bakery first opened on the Boonville square in the mid-1950s. It later moved to the location on East Gum Street. Though ownership has changed hands a couple of times since it first opened, one thing has never changed: the delicious recipes of the doughnuts. Pioneer Bakery has offered everything that a doughnut fan loves. We are talking about things like doughnuts, Danish, twists, long johns, honey buns, jelly and Bavarian bismarks, cream horns, apple fritters, and brownies.

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One thing that folks in the area know about is the hours of operation for Pioneer Bakery. The sign on the door reads "Tues. through Sun. 5 a.m. until ???". There were only a limited number of doughnuts made each day, and when they are gone, they're gone. Most folks would order ahead to make sure they got their hands on some. Since closing time depends on how fast the doughnuts sold out, you wanted to make sure that you got there almost as they opened to ensure that plenty of doughnuts were available.

Unfortunately, the Boonville gem closed its doors earlier this year due to health reasons, but the business remained for sale. On Monday, December 9th, the purchase of Pioneer Bakery was made official. Judging by the response, the community is more than thrilled.

The Future of Pioneer Bakery

On Monday, Erica Meier announced that she and her family purchased Pioneer Bakery. The Meiers purchased the bakery from the previous owners, Danny and Faith Wheeler. The Wheelers purchased the bakery in 1985, and Meier says that she is grateful and thankful that the Wheelers are trusting them to carry on the legacy of the bakery. The Meiers did purchase all of the original recipes and the Wheelers are going to help along the way to ensure they bring back the Pioneer Bakery that Boonville has known for decades.

I spoke with Erica Meier about purchasing Pioneer Bakery, and this is what she had to say:

I have always wanted to own a business in Boonville and give back to the community. In 2018 or 2019 I can’t remember, I reached out to Danny for the first time and told him I was interested in purchasing the bakery if he ever wanted to sell it. I went in there a lot before school to pick up donuts for meetings and I just loved it there. I can’t really explain it - I just loved the bakery and people were happy getting their donuts and I loved that. Plus the donuts were fantastic!

I continued to stay in touch with him about once a year to express my interest in the bakery and then in March/April 2024, we started seriously talking to the wheelers about buying it.

We are keeping everything the same. Using the same recipes, location, etc. we will be hiring after the first of the year and hope to be open in late January/early February.

 

The Meiers are a great family. Erica and her husband are both teachers at Boonville High School and have always been very kind to me and my family. I have no doubt that they will do some amazing things with Pioneer Bakery. In the meantime, be sure to follow Pioneer Bakery on Facebook and Instagram for all of the latest updates.