Mark and Stephanie Garza dreamed of having their own bakery and didn’t let COVID get in the way of that. This 100% vegan bakery is not only a rarity in Fort Worth, Texas, but a symbol of what true passion and talent can overcome despite the odds.
Planted Bakery has been in the works for the Garzas for quite some time and was already slated for an early 2020 opening. Despite most food service establishments shutting down around mid March, they still opened their doors in April.
“It was a good thing for us to open during COVID because we could do it slowly, instead of having to open a full-blown restaurant, we could do limited hours and limited items to see what our customers wanted and grow as we needed instead of having to do everything all at once”, states Stephanie Garza, co-owner of Planted Bakery.
They certainly gave the local vegan, and even non-vegan, sweet tooth community what they wanted, with their menu ranging from speciality cookies, doughnuts, cakes, and “cruffins”, which is a cross between a croissant and a muffin! **they take croissant dough, twist it to fit in a muffin tin and bake it with sweet or savory fillings/toppings! They offer flavors like vegan butter, bacon, maple sausage and cheddar, cheddar and green onion, chocolate, and more. Planted Bakery also offers savory options too with their pepperoni rolls, sandwiches, salads, and even vegan potpies!
“The community has been super respectful and supportive of what we’re doing here,” shares Stephanie. “People wanted a bakery in the neighborhood”.
Though, being in Texas’ “Cowtown”, locals still come in and ask, “how do you make cruffins without butter” or “how is it pepperoni if it’s vegan?”
“We don’t market that it’s healthy, we just make sure that everyone knows that there is no animal products in anything that we do”, explains Stephanie. “It’s great to see people bring their kids in here, that can usually not order anything because of their dairy issue or allergies regarding animal products, and order whatever they want!”
Mark and Stephanie also offer a whole-foods plant-based meal-prep service in addition to their baked treats, called Goodtrition. They started this after Stephanie posted on social media about their at-home meal-prepping session one day, leading to a strong interest from their fanbase looking for more every-day food from them. “I had all these people messaging me, “when are you going to do this in the store?” So we had to add those options too”, explains Stephanie.
Though the Garzas achieved their dream of having a vegan bakery, they aren’t quite done dreaming yet. They look to expand Planted Bakery to be a full-service restaurant one day soon. For their future restaurant, they wish to stay in the Wedgwood neighborhood of Fort Worth for the supportive community and simply expand to a more spacious spot within the retail strip area.
When you find yourself around the Fort Worth, Texas area next, visit the Garzas for a sweet or savory Cruffin and a chat at Planted Bakery: 5400 Woodway Drive, Ste. 120, plantedbakery.com.
