For the past two years, The Sweet Praxis has sat on the corner of East Waters Street and South Warren Street in Armory Square. The modern bakery has come a long way since its opening, but it’s not because they’re adapting to being a new business — change is in the company’s name.

The word “praxis” comes from the idea of constantly evolving, experimenting with trial and error and exploring new ways of doing things. Jennifer Walls and Natalie Evans, co-owners and co-founders of The Sweet Praxis, said this idea is also written into the company’s culture.

“For us, we always wanted our bakery to be flowing, never kind of stagnant,” said Walls. This, she said, is why they are always “playing” in the kitchen.

The Sweet Praxis will host its two-year anniversary celebration this weekend on Nov. 3. The celebration will include an all-day event, extending their hours until 5 p.m. and featuring games and giveaways.

While a typical restaurant, coffee shop or bakery often undergoes most of their changes during the first year, The Sweet Praxis is constantly innovating itself. Some of the bakery’s biggest changes have been made in the past 10 months. The bakery has added more vegan and gluten-free items, various signature espressos and workshops in collaboration with local businesses.

With the addition of an espresso machine in January 2018 — first announced at their one-year anniversary event last November — the menu now includes a variety of specialty espresso drinks.

One of their signature espressos is the “Golden Oat,” a turmeric-based latte that is blended with oat milk. Walls said the concentrate is made in small batches from the Brooklyn-based company, Dona Chai.

The bakery offers plant-based milks for most of their drinks because they want to cater to everyone’s diets and be more eco-friendly, Walls said. But she added that they prefer oat milk to almond because it’s a more sustainable option.

“Long-term (oat milk)’s gonna be more sustainable, almonds are not very water efficient to grow,” she said. “They really only grow in California and a couple other select parts of the world, while oats can grow in abundance anywhere.”

Walls said being environmentally-friendly is one of the most important aspects of The Sweet Praxis, focusing specifically on green practices. Every baked good is packaged in either compostable or recyclable materials, along with compostable cutlery.

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The bakery doesn’t have a garbage bin in the front of the store — instead, a compost bin gets picked up by the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency for food scrap composting.

Kristen Lawton, the public information officer for OCRRA, said food waste is one of the largest components of trash and that many businesses and schools in the Syracuse area have adopted their composting system. Lawton said that Syracuse University was one of their first adopters, back in 2008.

As well as being green, Walls said she’s very focused on making The Sweet Praxis suitable for all types of eaters. She attributes their vegan and gluten-free foods to wanting an inclusive environment in the store.

“This whole environment is a place where we want everybody to be able to have something they can eat, a place where everyone can kind of come together, so nobody in the group feels alienated,” she said. “So, we’re trying to not only provide that for people, but also be able to do it exceptionally well.”

Walls said that while this can be challenging at times, it’s all a part of their motto of constantly changing and improving.

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“Everything, whether vegan or not, we’re still constantly tweaking to try to make things better,” said Jessie DeSaldia, a baker at The Sweet Praxis.

She also said a store favorite, their vegan croissants, were a “labor of love” to figure out how to make work.

While Walls said that their business is constantly evolving, they still have some exciting things planned for the future.

Every month, The Sweet Praxis hosts baking classes for different baked goods, but last month they launched their first workshop and plan to introduce more in collaboration with local businesses, said Walls.

Walls added that they plan to experiment with more refined vegan pastry items by “playing” with aquafaba — a vegan replacement for whipped toppings — and coming up with new plant-based alternatives that taste just as good as their non-vegan versions.

The bakery also works with local restaurants, such as Original Grain, The Evergreen, The Fish Friar and Soleil Café to put on events and sell their products.

Taylor Doupe, the co-owner of Soleil Café, said she likes selling their cookies and donuts because it’s a great way to support other women-owned businesses.

“It’s been awesome working with them,” she said. “I consider both of them dear friends of mine and it’s been cool working with other female business owners.”

While working to provide quality sweets for the Syracuse area that are sustainable and diet-inclusive is the goal of The Sweet Praxis, Walls said her favorite part is the impact she can have on people’s day-to-day lives.

“It’s kind of an honor to be part of everyone who comes through the doors’ day whatever their reason it is,” she said. “It’s really special that we get to be part of that celebration in some small way contributing to making someone’s day a little better.”

Published on October 30, 2018 at 2:18 am

Contact Sarah: srslavin@syr.edu