One makes donuts, the other doesn’t. One makes custom cakes, the other not as much.
But the characteristic that most separates two recently opened New Kensington bakeries is that one, Sweet Alchemy Bake Shop, is all-vegan, while the other, Lynette’s M.A.D. Custom Cakes, is not.
Lynette McCandrew opened her bakery in March. Jamie Parker followed, opening her vegan shop two weeks later in April.
They’re not just two bakeries trying to succeed in the same city, or even on the same street. They’re neighbors, sharing a wall in Kenmar Suites on Fifth Avenue.
McCandrew said neither one of them knew there’d be another bakery next to their own. But instead of competing, they support each other, referring customers back and forth based on what they want and who can make it.
“I don’t make anything vegan. She doesn’t make anything non-vegan,” McCandrew said. And, “Her donuts are delicious.”
Parker said they empower each other.
“She hands out my business cards. I always send people over,” Parker said. “We approach it from, ‘Let’s succeed together.’ It works for us. Between the two of us, we have your baked goods covered.”
While they work with different ingredients, both are women in their 40s who took on the challenge of taking their home-based businesses into storefronts.
A ‘now-or-never thing’
McCandrew, 41, of Brackenridge is a native of Tidioute, a borough in Warren County. She came to the Alle-Kiski Valley when she was in sixth grade, and graduated from Highlands High School in 1998.
She was baking out of her home for a decade, first for friends who referred her to other people.
“It just sort of spiraled from there,” she said.
The “M.A.D.” in her shop’s name comes from her daughters’ names — Madyson, 12, and Alyce Deyo, 16. Madyson has her own business, Madyson’s Hydration Station, inside her mom’s shop, selling beverages because her mother doesn’t. Alyce sells jewelry there.
The journey from home to storefront started with a popup show at Voodoo Brewery in December, where McCandrew met Mike Malcanas, owner of Olde Towne Overhaul. Kenmar Suites is among the buildings he has bought and fixed up.
“Everyone told me I was crazy to open a bakery,” she said. “It was a leap of faith. It was a now-or-never thing. I wasn’t getting any younger.”
Doing everything herself, McCandrew makes cupcakes, muffins, handpies, cookies, brownies, cinnamon rolls, chocolate covered Oreos, and cake pops. The brownies are her biggest seller, and her own personal weakness.
“I am a cake decorator that doesn’t eat cake,” she said. “The brownies on the other hand, I love brownies.”
She makes cakes to-order for events such as birthdays, weddings and baptisms.
“I try to make sure it’s affordable,” she said. “My goal is the normal person can come in and order a custom cake.”
Because she doesn’t have a front on Fifth Avenue, McCandrew said many don’t know she’s there. Some have found her by accident as they walk around.
“People are starting to realize there’s businesses back here,” she said.
‘Veganizing’ family recipes
Parker, 44, of Penn Hills is a Freeport native and 1995 graduate of Freeport High School.
Since opening in April, business has been good enough that she quit her job as a mental health therapist in August to go all-in on Sweet Alchemy. She hired her first employee, and is looking to bring on another.
“I can’t keep up with the demand for the product,” she said.
Parker founded Sweet Alchemy in her home in 2016. It was shut down in 2019 while she was moving and battling cancer, and relaunched in 2020.
Parker became vegetarian in 2001, and went vegan in 2013.
“As a vegan I don’t feel I miss out on anything,” she said. “I feel better about the choices I’m making.”
The difference between vegetarian and vegan, she explained, is that vegans don’t consume any animal products or anything derived from animals, including milk, eggs, honey and even sprinkles.
While a cupcake made with eggs and milk would be fine for a vegetarian, it would not be for a vegan, she said.
Although there are vegan substitutes for every ingredient, “It was always such a struggle to find baked goods that were vegan,” she said.
Parker said she likes to “veganize” family recipes, such as her grandmother’s lady locks. How she does that, though, is a secret.
“I’m pretty good at manipulating ingredients,” she said.
Parker considered other communities for her shop before settling on New Kensington, where she had once worked and lived, and was introduced to Malcanas. She had heard about the recent growth in the city and knew there were not a lot of options in the area for vegans.
“I can’t say no without checking it out,” she said.
When first shown the space she’s in, she knew it was right for her.
“I loved everything about this space,” she said.
Parker said not everyone who comes to her window on Barnes Street knows her shop is vegan, or even cares. They’re just looking for good baked goods such as her donuts, pop tarts, sundaes and cupcakes.
Parker wants to expand her offerings into savory foods by December, adding sandwiches, salads and soups to her menu.
“I didn’t have any expectations when I first started,” she said. “I’m thankful for all the business that I get.”