bake - March 2013 - 34

Area.” Niall says the Art Murmur was the primary
avenue for Sweet Bar’s steady awareness buildup.
Niall admits that opening Sweet Bar so close to
Thanksgiving wasn’t ideal, but he made the best of it.
“The day before Thanksgiving we did a pie pop-up,”
Niall says. “We set up inside, baked pies and promoted
it on Facebook. We took phone numbers in person
and people called in and placed orders. We sold
40-45 pies, which isn’t a lot in the bakery world, but
every bit counts. People would take pies to parties or
Thanksgiving dinners and talk about them.”
The ﬁner details
Sometimes the best way to ﬁgure out what your
customers want is simply to ask them, and social
media allow you to do so easily without being bothersome. “You also have to be a computer tech person
these days,” Niall says. “I naïvely thought last summer,
‘Oh, we’re a bakery/coffeehouse/café — we don’t need
Internet.’ So I put it out for discussion on Facebook
and quickly realized my foolishness.”
Sweet Bar products

Rewards included: a private, “custom-tailored” baking

are accompanied

lesson from Niall for a $1,000+ pledge, and a muffin

To provide a visible link between the front of the

by unique info

named after you (design the ﬂavor with Niall, and

house and the kitchen, Niall keeps a few large sacks of

cards, which list

host a “muffin madness brunch,” featuring the muffin,

sugar and ﬂour stacked in the hallway leading to the

ingredients used

for you and three friends) for a $400+ pledge.

bathroom. “I think people nowadays like having that
connection with their restaurant and their food,” Niall

(sweeteners, butter
and oil, dairy, and

Building momentum

says. This also helps reinforce the simple but impor-

grain) and whether

Once he had the space, Niall began to consistently

tant fact that Sweet Bar uses the simplest base ingre-

they are organic or

capitalize on the Art Murmur, even though his new

dients in its treats. “Baking has traditions,” Niall says.

gluten-free.

building was still empty. The monthly art walks cover

“There are tips and techniques and the wonderful

20-30 galleries and draw crowds of up to 20,000

history. No matter what you’re doing you gotta call

people from throughout the Bay Area — the city

on them, especially when it’s just good old powdered

closes 20 blocks, which ﬁll with food trucks, craft

sugar, cream and white ﬂour.”

vendors and street performers. On the corner in front
of his space, and across the street at the oppo-

On opening day Niall arranged an impromptu ﬂash

site corner, Niall began holding periodic “pop-ups”

mob performance of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” just

(temporarily erected restaurants or shops).

outside the main window of Sweet Bar. The mob set up
sound equipment and, facing customers through the

Niall, still without a proper place to prepare his goods,

window, presented a choreographed dance routine.

used commercially licensed rental kitchens to make
small batches of cupcakes, cookies and savory snacks

Niall’s comprehensive, detail-oriented approach to

to sell during the Art Murmurs. Niall made an appear-

opening Sweet Bar is related to his philosophy on

ance at four of the art walks prior to Sweet Bar’s late

tools in the kitchen: “You’ve gotta baby your equip-

Nov. opening. “Every third person asks, ‘What’s a

ment,” Niall says. “You’ve gotta nurse it along… It’s not

pop-up?’”, Niall says. “But the people who are aware,

like clockwork — it’s every day. It’s a little bit of hands-

they’re in the know about pop-ups all over the Bay

on, intuition and experience.”

34 < MAR 2013 | bakemag.com

http://www.bakemag.com

bake - March 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of bake - March 2013