Sunday, November 30, 1997

Lufkin woman turns Christmas project into a thriving business

By PAULA METZINGER / Lufkin Daily News

LUFKIN, Texas -- Marill Gerth is rolling in dough -- thick, brown, sticky, spicy gingerbread dough.

The Lufkin woman has turned a family Christmas project into a thriving business where the oven never cools down.

Working at a pace that would send Santa's elves into a tailspin, employees at Gingerbread Delights by Marill were preparing enough 10-inch gingerbread boy and girl cookies to populate a city.

And like the gingerbread man in the familiar children's story, these gingerbread creations will run away to the shelves of Neiman Marcus, Dillard's, Nordstrom's and other department stores to add to the enchantment of Christmas in homes across the country.

"It started in Dallas in 1981, with a gingerbread house on the mini-page of the newspaper. We had always done a birthday cake for Jesus and wanted to make a gingerbread house," Mrs. Gerth said. "I really did start in my kitchen with my family."

The first venture was successful and then came houses made for Girl Scout troops, Boy Scout troops, friends and family.

In 1983 the Gerths moved to Lufkin and she dreamed of starting her own gingerbread house business while working as a dental hygienist at the Lufkin State School.

"I've always known from the first I wanted to do gingerbread houses," she said. "There's no right or wrong. You can do it any way you want and if you think you made a mistake you can wipe it off and start over."

Mrs. Gerth said she would buy gingerbread house kits on the market and knew she could make a better product.

And being a Texan, and more specifically a Dallas, Texan, she dreamed of marketing her gingerbread houses to Neiman-Marcus.

"I called (Neiman's) and said 'I have something I really want to show you"," she said.

The woman at Neiman's said just send us one, Mrs. Gerth said.

"Well, I just decided I would make one and take it to them and then they would have to see me. They just said leave it and we will call you. But that didn't dampen my spirits," she said.

She left the kit at Neiman's and came back to Lufkin to wait for a call.

Neiman's did call, but they wanted the houses assembled. Mrs. Gerth said she wasn't sure she could ship the finished product and asked for a summer to work on the shipping problem.

The summer of 1995, gingerbread houses left Lufkin and arrived in Dallas with varying problems.

They would call and say the icing fell off or the roof was broken, she said.

Finally, using double boxing, the product arrived in Dallas safe and sound and Gingerbread Delights by Marill had it's first contract.

Not only for the houses, they also wanted a line of cookies, she said.

Mrs. Gerth and her elves, otherwise known as family, friends and friends of friends, started mixing and baking to fill Neiman's order. Working out of borrowed space after regular hours in a local bakery and in her own home they managed to meet the order of the famous department store.

This year the company has moved out of borrowed space to it's own building furnished with equipment purchased from a salvage company.

Customers have also expanded and the cookies are featured in Dillard's Christmas catalog and are marketed through Gourmet Food Products. Locally, Gingerbread Delight cookies are sold at "The Very Thing" and in Nacogdoches at "The Cottage" and "Coffee with Style at Schmidt's."

On a recent day workers were mixing, baking, icing, packing and loading boxes while a delivery truck waited in the drive. And the smell of freshly-baked gingerbread filled the air.

All around, stacked on top of one another and on stainless steel cooling racks were silver cookie sheets filled with gingerbread cookies in the shape of boys, girls, snowflakes, Santas, angels and snowmen. There was a "morgue" filled with pieces of cookies that didn't make it and a "hospital" tray filled with cookies that needed to be re-decorated.

In the tiny office at Gingerbread Delights a subdivision of gingerbread houses filled a table top. The Texas house had a Texas-shaped door while the traditional Christmas house featured a door shaped like a Christmas tree. There was also a Black Forest Chalet, Noah's Ark, complete with animals and Mr. and Mrs. Noah and a nativity. All styles were fringed with white icing and decorated with assorted candies.

"They are completely eatable or you can save them from year to year," she said.

"This is an extremely busy time. The thing that is so critical is that we must meet the deadline or the whole order is lost," she said. "It calls for many hours and lots of planning. My business expertise is not the best but I surround myself with people who know more than I do."

Workers at Gingerbread Delights include friends and friends of friends who come in to deliver lunch and end up staying until an order is filled.

"Don't come in the door if you can't stay," Mrs. Gerth warns.

And most of the people mixing and icing and packing have full-time jobs and come to the bakery after hours.

Mrs. Gerth has also kept her job at the state school.

"I basically have two full-time jobs," she said. "It's wonderful to see the company come together and gel because of a dream."

And visions of gingerbread still dance in her head.

"I really believe this will be a Fortune 500 company some day," she said.

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Distributed by The Associated Press