Angela Garbacz has trotted the globe to find the world’s best food and has the stamps on her passport to prove it.
She’s enjoyed life-changing buckwheat pancakes in Reykjavík, visited a specialized temperature-controlled cake decorating kitchen at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong, and discovered a boutique in Amsterdam that served only perfect little chocolate cookies with white chocolate ganache centers.
These types of discoveries especially excite Garbacz as a pastry chef and owner of Lincoln, Nebraska’s Goldenrod Pastries—a boutique patisserie specializing in dairy and gluten-free baked goods.
“If I could put together a collage of photos from every restaurant, coffee shop, and bakery I've visited, you would likely be able to see little details from almost all of them,” she says. Her patisserie is a mix of those details and the dream pastry-world she’s imagined since she was six years old.
As a small business owner, Garbacz relishes finding stores during her adventures that are unapologetic about their menu and style. She no longer just gets excited about discovering new food, but also by finding inspiration in how other stores do business.
Garbacz’s ambition as a young, independent business owner stems from seeing the hard work of the people she surrounds herself with. She notes that 90% of the businesses in the College View district where Goldenrod is located are owned by other young women. Like her neighbors, Garbacz believes in working tirelessly toward a goal with no excuses, while practicing kindness along the way.
As she enters into her second year of business, Garbacz is looking forward to watching Goldenrod and its team continue to grow.
“I see more parties in our store to keep building our little community,” she says. “And a lot more sprinkles and glitter.”
While Garbacz knows Goldenrod and Nebraska are her forever home, she’ll always be motivated to travel and gather more inspiration. “Life is too short not to explore all of the tiny little pastry shops of the world.”
From Nebraska
In Search of the Sweet Life:
Trekking the World
in the Name of Pastry