Fatima Hodzic never intended for her bakery, Burek and Cake, to be considered “off the beaten path.”
“So many people say, ‘Oh, my God, where did you hide it? Why did you hide this?’ Like, I don't know. It's just we had this space,” Hodzic explained on a frigid December afternoon.
The bakery is located in an A-frame cottage on the corner of Antioch and Winn Roads in the Northland, not far from the small community of Avondale. It’s a snug space, just big enough for a table or two and a large glass case to display Hodzic’s sweet treats.
Next door is the larger— but still quaint — European Corner Store, owned by Hodzic’s husband, Senaid. To keep things simple, Hodzic just tells people she’s near North Kansas City Hospital, since everyone knows where that is.
The Hodzics moved to Kansas City five years ago, right before the COVID-19 pandemic sent the world into lockdown. The transition was hard, Hodzic said, and the family struggled with four kids and bills to pay.
Hodzic wanted to find a way to help out from home, so she funneled her extra time into something she has always loved: baking.
First, she made a Facebook profile to sell her sweet treats. Then, customers started asking when she would open her own place. But she says the thought of a brick-and-mortar business was daunting at first.
“It's hard. It's big step to open bakery, and you have to be there every day,” says Hodzic. “But my husband believed in me more than I did. He was like, ‘I know you, you will succeed in that.’”
Two years in, Hodzic’s bakery already has its own slate of regular customers, people who come on specific days of each week and whom she knows by name.
James Evans stops by the shop every Friday and is a huge fan of the Biscoff cheesecake and the bureks.
“It’s probably one of the best cakes that I’ve had,” says Evans. “The burek is awesome. It’s actually like a lunch meal: They got potato, spinach and cheese, or just cheese or meat, and everything is just absolutely delicious.”
Hodzic explains that Bosnian food is “slow cooking food” that is “seasoned with love.”
“In every Bosnian house, when you go, when you try food, you have to love it,” Hodzic says. “It's something that we don't use a lot of spices. We just use regular salt, pepper, but we create amazing food. The way we make it is different than others,” she says.
Coffee is also a central part of Bosnian life.
“That means, when you invite somebody for, ‘Let's go coffee,’ that coffee is the part of your friendship, the part of love, the part of life, you have to enjoy your coffee,” Hodzic says.
Hodzic grew up with her mother, brother and sister in the central part of Bosnia, near the city of Zenica. She says life wasn’t always easy then.
“My dad was killed in war, so I was little when he was killed. So we struggled a lot. It was hard times, but now I appreciate so many things,” Hodzic says. “You know, when you go through hard, you appreciate every little thing, what life brings you. Appreciate I came here. I appreciate my kids, my husband, my life, everything, my friends.”
Now, Hodzic in the process of expanding her kitchen, which she hopes will help grow business even more.
“Every day we have new customers. They hear from somebody, they tried somewhere, and they want to come and check what we have,” Hodzic says. "It's amazing."
