Amanda Nolan grew up the daughter of a small business owner, a mother who set a template to follow.

Sure enough, Nolan started young with an artsy bent in making trinkets and homemade jewelry popular with her classmates. It gave her the first indications of what it’s like to make your own money.

“It was something I was around,” she said of the entrepreneurial spirit. “I followed the momentum.”

The lifelong Brownsville resident found her passion was baking, especially desserts. At 18, Nolan went vegan and it’s a lifestyle choice she remains committed to well into her 20s. Living in a land of pan dulce and Mexican-influenced bakeries, Nolan discovered the obvious when it came to vegan dessert shops in the Rio Grande Valley. There were none to be found.

Finding Confirmation

The aspiration set in for Nolan before reaching 20 that she wanted to run and own her own bakery. She would do it her way with products that reflected her belief in the vegan lifestyle. Nolan wanted to confirm she was right for the business. From 2017 to 2021, she worked as a cake decorator at a standard-style bakery in Brownsville and learned from seasoned pros in the business.

“I had to make sure I liked it as a job and an everyday thing I would enjoy,” Nolan said. 

She did. From there, Nolan found a former restaurant building on the western edge of Brownsville’s busy FM 802 as the site for her future bakery. Initial hopes were to open in 2020. The national economic difficulties of 2020 were felt locally. Nolan had to delay the opening of what she would call Sweet Craft Vegan. The extra time gave her time to build up more resources and aim for the right time to open.

That time came in early 2021. What Nolan has found over the last two-plus years is that enough people in pan dulce country are willing to go outside of the box to try something different. Many of her customers are in fact non-vegan who just enjoy her pastries and have become regular customers.

“As long as it’s good, people will want it,” she said.

Good Groove

At the Sweet Vegan commercial kitchen, flax seed replaces eggs with soy or almond milk used instead of dairy-derived milk. 

Chickpea beans are whipped into fluids resembling egg whites. It gives Nolan’s vegan desserts structure when they lift and expand with the heat of an oven. Flour is used by vegan bakers since it’s sourced from plants, but vegan bakers like Nolan will often go with more nutrient-rich varieties than the standard white flour found on grocery store shelves. 

A look under the display window shows that Nolan knows her market and community. There are conchas along with pumpkin empanadas. Colorful pastries with a local flair are referred to at the bakery as vegansitos and pinguinos. Piggies, which are commonly referred to in the Valley as maranitos, are there too with their familiar golden orange hue. A taste of a few of her selections stack up well with any area bakery using traditional ingredients of eggs and milk. Nolan’s pastries seem to have a cleaner and smoother texture and are sufficiently sweet with the use of raw cane sugar. 

By all appearances, the Sweet Vegan has settled into a nice groove. A steady stream of customers walks in to look at daily selections, which vary a bit day to day. Nolan supplies independent coffee shops in Harlingen and Brownsville with her pastries, and in the process, she enjoys communication with similar-aged business owners. A family arrives to look over a birthday cake for a teenage daughter. The teen’s smile says she’s happy with what the local vegan baker has come up with for a special occasion.

A Rising Future

The uncertainties of the opening days and weeks are behind Nolan as she looks forward to new opportunities like shipping her baked goods.

“I was a little scared,” she said, recalling the nerves of opening her alternative-style bakery. 

As it turned out, Nolan said, “people in the Valley are willing to try different things.”

It’s especially impressive she did it on our own with no culinary school training or college business degrees. Nolan is self-taught and has thrived with the support of her family and the insights of her mentors. It has taken the young entrepreneur this far, with lots more to do ahead.

“I put in the work and got the experience,” Nolan said. “I think I got it.”

The Sweet Craft Vegan is located at 1280 W. Ruben Torres, Suite C, a major Brownsville thoroughfare more commonly known in Brownsville as FM 802.