Iron County baker launches home business with custom treats

Courtney Glines turned a stream of encouragement from family, friends and coworkers into a new Iron County home baking business earlier this year, opening Baked by Courtney from her own kitchen with custom treats made one order at a time. At 26, Glines said the reaction people have to her baking is what finally pushed her to make the leap, and she has built the business around the kind of personal work that can grow through word of mouth in a rural market.

Glines is balancing the bakery with a busy life of family and work. She is a mother of three and has worked full time at Desi’s Subs & Pizza, 321 W. Adams St. in Iron River, for nearly six years. That routine leaves her little downtime, but it also gives her a steady base in the community she hopes will keep supporting the business as it grows.

Her menu includes cookies, breads and custom creations, and Glines said her favorite item to make is Nutella brownies, especially when paired with sourdough. She said she likes being outdoors, caring for plants and expressing her artistic side, interests she now channels into baking. Every order is handled by Glines herself from her home kitchen, making Baked by Courtney a true one-woman operation.

She has also taken the regulatory side seriously. Glines completed a Cottage Food Law online course through Michigan State University and has kept her ServSafe certification current for the last two years. She said she does not want to sell anything that falls short of her standards, a practical concern for any home-based food business built on trust as much as taste.

Michigan adopted its Cottage Food Law in 2010, and the law exempts qualifying home food operations from licensing and inspection when they make and sell certain non-potentially hazardous foods from a primary home kitchen, while still following labeling rules and other legal requirements. Michigan State University Extension offers Cottage Food Law classes online and in person, including one-hour and two-hour workshop formats that cover food safety, packaging, labeling, storing, transporting and, in the longer session, business topics.

Glines’ next local showcase is the Humongous Fungus Fest in Crystal Falls, where she plans to introduce her work to more neighbors. The festival’s 2025 edition was the 34th annual celebration, held Friday, Aug. 1 and Saturday, Aug. 2, with a parade, vendor village and other downtown activities; a 2026 listing shows the parade set for Friday, July 31 at 5 p.m. For a new baker trying to turn praise into paying customers, that kind of visibility could be the difference between a hobby and a lasting Iron County business.