When Jamie Parker took her home-based bakery into a storefront, small felt right.
Two years later, with Sweet Alchemy Bake Shop moved into larger quarters in New Kensington and its offerings expanding, Parker looks back and wonders why she didn’t go big from the start.
How has she succeeded?
“I work incredibly hard to keep this place afloat,” she said. “I offer a really good product and that helps tremendously. When your food is good, people will come.
“Every day, I push myself. Every day, I challenge myself,” she said. “I’ve worked really hard to build my brand, which is an extension of myself.”
Parker opened Sweet Alchemy in a 480-square-foot space in Kenmar Suites, with a walkup window on Barnes Street, in April 2021.
She closed there in February. In March, she opened on Fifth Avenue in a space that is more than 1,000 square feet.
“I think it’s pretty amazing. I’m just amazed at the whole thing, that she moved from that little place over to the bigger place,” said Parker’s mother, Bonnie Arthur, who has been helping out in the kitchen. “I was there when she was open, and she had quite a lot of business. I think it’s a good thing. I hope it continues.”
Parker was going to have a grand-opening event but said she is just too busy for it.
“I can’t slow down,” she said.
The first space for Sweet Alchemy was little more than a kitchen, with a very small area just inside the door for customers to come in and buy things. The new storefront has a seating area for customers, a counter across from the kitchen and a covered back patio.
“I love it so much. The ability to step out of the kitchen is an amazing thing,” Parker said. “I don’t feel trapped.”
With pink and white stripes, the storefront is hard to miss, which means more customers coming through the door.
“That’s part of the reason why I wanted to move. We’re front and center,” she said. “I love being here. I really do.”
Parker has been vegan since 2013. While some seek out Sweet Alchemy because its offerings are all vegan, it’s possible to eat her pastries, cookies and brownies and not realize there’s no eggs, milk or butter within.
“I don’t think most people know we’re vegan,” she said. “I don’t tell people it’s vegan unless they ask.”
Said Arthur: “If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t know.”
To make use of the larger space, Parker is expanding Sweet Alchemy’s offerings. That has included more breakfast options, such as bagels with vegan cream cheese and a beverage bar with lattes.
She confessed to not having any real knowledge about coffee.
“That’s been fun,” she said. “The more I do it, the more that I like it.”
While her plans include having soups, sandwiches and salads, she is rolling out new menu offerings in increments, for now focusing on breakfast.
“I don’t have to do it all in the first four months of opening,” she said.
In addition to selling from the store, Parker attends vegan events in Pittsburgh and sells online — she once shipped ladylocks to Arizona for a wedding.
Parker hosted a dinner in April, during which she took diners step-by-step through the recipes. She plans to offer more private dinners, culinary experiences and cooking classes, using the counter adjacent to the kitchen.
Parker wants to make vegan baking and cooking accessible, so people know they can do it with ingredients in their pantries or that they can get at any store, not just specialty or high-end shops.
“I like teaching, and I want to teach people how to make these things at home,” she said.
Inside the store, there is a reading area and books that people are welcome to take, she said. There also are games to play in the store.
In the back, she plans to plant a community garden with vegetables and herbs that will be freely available.
“She’s always been pretty strong-willed,” Arthur said. “Whatever she sets her mind to, there’s nobody going to change it. As long as she’s happy.”
Like her products, “I don’t ever want to grow stale as a person,” Parker said.
