When Michael Sabet first started baking with vegan ingredients, he was making his creations at home for his wife.
“My wife Kathy is vegan. A lot of mediocre stuff was out there. I wanted to give her something special,”Sabet said.
As owner and baker of Sweet to Lick, the new vegan bakery at 78 Hillside Ave. in Williston Park, Sabet has begun to share the vegan baking skills his wife enjoyed with others.
“This seems to make people happy and it makes me feel happy,” Sabet said. “I think there’s a lot of room for growth.”
Sabet, a 34-year-old Floral Park native, worked in retail sales for several years after graduating from Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale.
He then worked in the restaurant business and in a wholesale bakery.
Based on the success in those businesses and the lack of vegan food outlets on Long Island, he said, he decided to open Sweet to Lick last August in Williston Park.
“I grew up locally. I could have put this anywhere in the city and seen more money come in the door. But Long Island needs this,” Sabet said.
He said he’s appealing to people who prefer to eat vegan products. But he’s also knows that there is a large audience of people with allergies to eggs and other animal products who will want to eat vegan baked goods.
Sabet said he recently baked a small vegan Harry Potter-themed cake for a customer whose daughter’s grade school class was planning a celebration with a large non-vegan Harry Potter cake.
So far, he said, he’s seen the business gathering momentum by word of mouth.
Along with the baked goods, Sweet to Lick offers vegan sandwiches for lunch on Thursdays and Fridays (a vegan cheesesteak made with wheat protein last week). And Sundays are Scone Day at Sweet to Lick. Half of the scones he sells gluten-free, Sabet said.
Sabet said he’s firmly committed to the vegan cause, using no products extracted from animals, including butter, gelatin, and bleached sugar.
“There’s violence involved and by participating in that violence, you’re hurting everybody,” Sabet said.
But, he adds, “A good cookie is a good cookie. Forget the politics.”
He said he’s drawn good reviews from customers for his chocolate chip cookies and equally popular bourbon pecan cookies.
Sweet to Lick’s offerings include pastries such as Swiss rolls, similar to Yodels, Sabet said, cupcakes, turnovers and assorted cakes.
Sabet said along with sending a message for people to use less meat, he’s also intent to promote the purchase of products produced by local businesses.
“We’re within a movement toward a more locally based and less corporately based society,” he said. “I’m doing it the hardest and best way I know how. You put out positivity in the universe and it comes back.”
Sabet said he making the bakery open to local vegan groups holding meetings there.
“I want the community to feel comfortable here,” he said.
He said his days at the bakery start at 7 or 8 a.m. and finish at 11 p.m. or later. Sweet to Lick is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
