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Sweet Bar Bakery: Something sweet is coming to Broadway

Pilar Vree Sat, 10 Mar at 5:30pm
Sweet by Mani Niall

Sweet by Mani Niall

If you’re looking for something sweet and delicious, or sweet and vegan, or sweet and gluten-free in Downtown Oakland, get ready for Sweet Bar Bakery. Mani Niall, who worked as Michael Jackson’s personal chef in the 1980’s and later operated a bakery in Los Angeles, plans to open Sweet Bar Bakery on Broadway in late 2012.

After arriving in the Bay Area in 1999, Niall became the executive chef at Just Desserts, and Sweet Bar Bakery is his first business endeavor in Oakland. With the boom in the local arts district, he saw the opportunity to bring artisan baked goods and delicious food to the Uptown District. As a new addition to the neighborhood, Sweet Bakery will compliment the thriving arts and music district with a myriad of delicious desserts, small meals, beer and wine for breakfast and lunch.

Niall has experience cooking and baking for people with special dietary needs, but rather than offering niche food that is overly focused on restrictions, he wants to make dessert that reminds people why they love eating dessert.

His inclusive menu will cater to vegans, vegetarians, gluten-free and everybody in between. Sourcing high quality, organic ingredients is essential to creating the mouth watering treats that Niall is known for. The menu is not yet solidified, but items akin to vegan chocolate raspberry muffins and Meyer cornmeal upside down cake, as well as some savory baking, will be sure to tempt your taste buds. The lunch menu will have simple offerings such as soup, salad and flatbread, and breakfast will likewise include tantalizing selections.

Niall plans to open doors in the old MacFarlane Candy Factory store front. With large, sweeping windows and a warm, friendly atmosphere, Sweet Bar Bakery is sure to become a fixture within the neighborhood. Other local businesses have already offered their support and enthusiasm for the new bakery, and Niall hopes to drum up financial support with his Kickstarter campaign

The chance to donate to this exciting new venture closes within the week, so be sure to check out their campaign. We look forward to filling our bellies with Niall’s exquisite culinary concoctions.

To donate to their Kickstarter campaign, click  here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sweetbar/sweet-bar-bakery

About Pilar Vree
Pilar Vree loves Oakland.
Jen F commented on Thu, 8 Mar at 2:31pm:

A Kickstarter campaign?!  So I'm supposed to give you money so you can open a business to charge me money?  Huh? I could give you  money and you could give me a cupcake...that's usually how for-profit businesses work.

This is a really obnoxious business model and probably the newest ugly trend. If you really want to "support the neighborhood" maybe you could seem less like a self-entitled gentrifier?

 

Pilar Vree commented on Tue, 20 Mar at 11:17pm:

Hey Jen,

I'm personally pretty stoked about Sweet Bar. It takes capital to open up a new business, and using Kickstarter is a great way to raise awareness and get the community stoked on developing local businesses. In this economy, with banks tightening the purse strings on credit and small business loans, we have to help each other out as much as possible. Having a new business open in Downtown Oakland will be a boon to the local economy by bringing more jobs to Oakland. Not to mention, who can say no to cupcakes??

Matt Chambers commented on Tue, 10 Apr at 9:38am:

Jen F, you're confused. SweetBar offered rewards for supporting them in opening their business -it wasn't charity. By opening a bakery they ARE contributing to the community, because as of today there is not a bakery for miles. Last, when SweetBar opens they will only be entitled to charge anyone money if they do something to earn it first. That will be a voluntary arrangement and an arrangement I can't wait to participate in! 

Last your charge of gentrification is also confused. Gentrification involves displacement of lower income people by higher income people. SweetBar will be located in what used to be a car dealership. Before the building was converted to lofts no human being, low or high income, ever lived on that block of Broadway. You can't gentrify a car dealership. You can't gentrify most of Broadway between Grand and 580 because it has also been occupied by car dealerships for going on 100 years.

SweetBar, welcome to Uptown and thank you for taking a risk in order to enrich our community with your talents and labor.

Susan Mernit commented on Tue, 10 Apr at 6:54pm:

Thanks, Matt--it is great to see more shops that serve the locals opening up in the Auto Triangle area.

Suzanne Forbes commented on Fri, 18 Jan at 2:46pm:

Auto Triangle residents welcome Sweet Bar and we are so glad to have Mani Niall's baked goods available every day!

If you are a bakery stickler and want high quality natural ingredients in your baked goods, it's a tremendous addition to the neighborhood. Or if you work in the neighborhood and want a tasty lunch (sandwich on gluten-free flatbread?!) or you want a friendly place to hang out and have a beer before Art Murmur!

www.sweetbarbakery.com