Sesame, a tiny bakery
make a shop
This is truly a magical moment for me, there is really no other way to put it. I am thrilled to announce that I have the incredible opportunity to set up shop in a very small space, a perfect space really, in Berkeley, California. This tiny storefront shop is where I will share with you all of the cake, cookies and sweet treats I can fit into a pocket sized bakery. This little shop also happens to be attached (and under the same roof!) as the new Berkeley Kebabery, where I will be able to collaborate and share a kitchen with some of my favorite cooks and people. This also means you will be able to enjoy kebabs next door and then come into my shop for a slice of cake or a special cookie.
a shop for you
A real place, a shop, a tiny bakery in Berkeley, California. Cake everyday! Cake for your birthday and your friend’s birthday. With a shared kitchen space and the generous support of the Kebabery this shop will enable me to expand my special order cake business and menu, as well as offer a very tiny place for you to stop in, peek into the case, and enjoy a seasonal slice of cake or tart, or nibble on a delicious cookie.
share some cake, cake club
I’ve been popping up all over town (on the side of full time pastry jobs) selling all sorts of cakes and cookies since 2015. In May 2018, while I was working as the pastry chef at Camino, I started to offer a monthly cake pop-up at the Oakland Kebabery which became cake club. These regular cake club pop-ups were an incredible opportunity for me to reach out to the community, gain exposure, refine my offerings, and slowly build my small business around cake. I’ve learned that this community wants the ability to rely on me to make their special cakes and to have a real space to gather around them. This rare opportunity to actually have my own shop, work in a shared kitchen to grow and expand my business, and to collaborate in a unique space shared with the Kebabery team, is an absolute dream. It wouldn’t be possible for me without the support of this shared kitchen model, and without your support as well.
spend your life thinking about dessert
I’ve been working very hard over the years to take the necessary steps towards making a tiny shop of my own real. I have always been cooking and particularly obsessed with baking, but the true tipping point into this cuckoo world was nine years ago when I made the difficult decision to leave my small resource classroom as a teacher in Berkeley, for a different small corner in a kitchen in San Francisco as a pastry cook. It was that first gamble and jump that truly set everything in motion. Through the accumulation of experiences in many kitchens, working and learning from so many great cooks over time, and growing as both a human and a baker, I forged a path that has brought me right here, exactly where I want to be, making you something sweet.
Here. 2969 Shattuck Avenue
Over the past year I’ve devoted all of my time and energy towards the clear goal of opening this shop. Through increasing my pop-ups, growing my cake community, costing, planning, writing my budget, taking business classes, rewriting my budget and business plan, testing recipes, and formulating cake menus, I’ve been slowly building this dream. At times it feels completely impossible, but with the support of friends, cake lovers, and hopefully your contribution, this unique opportunity to collaborate with the wonderful people at the Kebabery and open a tiny shop of my own really can be possible.
The space is tiny but it’s perfect. It needs a lot of work, cleaning, painting, fixing the floor, building counters, buying equipment, and building out the space so we can all enjoy it. I’m doing it with the help of friends and people I trust who can lend their special skills and time. Even though the space is small it still costs more than what I have to open our doors. I need your help to finish it. Please help me build this space so we can have cake all the time.
together.
Creating is so much better when you have support, and you are supporting people around you. It’s not easy for me to ask for help, but the costs of opening a shop here in the Bay Area far exceed what I can raise on my own. I know I can bring something special to our community, and it’s also why I am asking the community to help support it.
Most of the time I am baking away in my kitchen alone. The other part, the part that really matters is sharing what I make, popping up in the community, and gathering people to hangout around cake. It’s a collaboration and it requires the support of the people who share their space, my partner who lets our kitchen become overrun with cake, people who come to every pop-up, friends who tell friends, people who live in the neighborhood and see my poster and decide to come in, and having the honor to make people in our community cakes for all the birthdays, weddings, and celebrations in their lives. Every dollar you can contribute will go towards finishing this shop and opening Sesame so that we can all enjoy something sweet.
Where is your contribution going?
This shop will be a place where you can rely on me for a cake for a friend’s birthday, or you could enjoy a slice of peach cake or nibble on a buckwheat cookie. I want to be the cake person for the community, where you can find something unique and sweet made with care, the best tasting fruit, and the freshest organic ingredients.
As you can see this tiny bakery is small but it needs a lot of work in order to open the doors and make you more cake. I have carefully budgeted out what I need to open this shop below, but any dollar raised beyond my initial goal will help sustain this tiny shop and face any obstacles I might encounter along the way.
Rewards!
I have some special gifts to thank you for your generous support. A rad tote bag with a design made by local artist Leah Labrador! The best organic fruit captured in a jar. Cookies! Cake! Buttons and pins for your cool jacket. Please know that every little bit helps, every friend, family member, coworker, neighbor you share this kickstarter with gets me a little closer to my fundraising goal. Thank you so much from my heart truly, for whatever amount you are able to contribute. Every dollar will go towards opening this tiny shop and bringing more cake to our community.
thank you to everyone who has helped me get to this place.
What sustains me and really is at the very heart, my heart, is the genuine support of fellow cooks, dear friends, my partner, my family, and all of the people that I have been lucky to meet over cake and cookies. It is all of the borrowed kitchens, cars, pots, tables, hands, recipes, and all of the beautiful fruit from local farmers and backyards. So many people have shared and continue to share their time, their wisdom, their kindness and their support. Thank you for helping me find my way here.
Thank you Devin Peek for making a video that captures a piece of my world. A very special thank you to Mark Santos for the love and patience, and Russ Moore, Allison Hopelain, + Brian Crookes for the gift of sharing space.
xo mk
Leaving the safety of a job and throwing everything into the ring for what you love does not come without enormous challenges, numerous setbacks, and compromises. Opening a small shop has quite honestly never seemed within my grasp. It seemed well, completely impossible. However, this is a unique opportunity to collaborate with seasoned, smart, and responsible business owners from the Kebabery. They are offering a supported space for me to grow and expand my business, and to give it a chance to become a sustaining part of the community. This is a special chance to build something on my own but with the support of others, and hopefully you.