Customers buzz in and out the door to pick up the orders they have placed for their Easter celebrations.

In the kitchen, bread is tossed back and forth, being formed into what will become an Easter bunny-shaped loaf of bread.

Since 3 a.m., Mariam Flowe, IUS alumna, has been at the Great Harvest Bread Co. on Charlestown Road, working tirelessly in hopes of completing the orders for Easter.

Flowe graduated from IU Southeast in 2005 and has been the co-owner of Great Harvest Bread Co. on Charlestown Road since February of this year.

She always wanted to have her own business, but she wasn’t sure what exactly that would be.

Flowe has worked in the food industry since high school, and she got her degree in music business in hopes of finding something that would allow her to work after graduating.

“I’ve always really liked food and being involved in making food,” Flowe said. “I wasn’t necessarily looking for a food business, but my mom happened to see that the store was for sale and she grabbed it and thought that it would be a great thing for us to do together.”

Flowe is in charge of production, management of employees, accounting and running the crew. She currently has seven employees, none of which are full-time.

There are two to four people at the store each day, making sure everything gets done as planned.

“She’s very fun to work with and for, and she makes it not seem like a job,” Samantha Ramser, Great Harvest Bread Co. employee and IUS student, said.

Owning a business wasn’t a piece of cake, or, in this case, a slice of bread. Flowe and her mom went through numerous steps before they could call it their own.

They contacted the previous owners and made them an offer, in which they accepted. Then they had to go out to the corporate offices in Montana for a day to interview with them.

In Montana, they talked to every department they had, including training, support and marketing.

“It was a way for us to get to know their company and for them to get to know us,” Flowe said.

Once they were approved by the selection team, they set a closing date with the previous owners.

Soon after, they went through four weeks of training. They trained in a host bakery that was already running in Owensboro, Ky.

After two weeks of training in Montana, where they did one week of production, which included making the bread and had a week of office training, including accounting, ordering and people management.

Finally, they had a week of training at the store on Charlestown Road with the previous owners. Aside from the tough beginning of making the business theirs, Flowe said she enjoys Great Harvest Bread Co. and the mission statement that it embodies.

“Be loose and have fun.Bake phenomenal bread. Run fast to help customers. Create a strong and exciting bakery. Give generously to others.”

Flowe said the mission statement really appealed to her when they started looking at the opportunity of owning the business.

At times, she said it can be overwhelming and exhausting, considering the 12-hour work days she pulls and all the orders that come through, but, no matter the kind of chaos, she still enjoys every single minute.