Today we’d like to introduce you to Kandi Tesen.
Kandi, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Eats was established in 2020 while working from home during the pandemic. After contemplating what I wanted to do after leaving the military; while stationed in Washington state we fell in love with coffee and I decided I wanted to open a coffee trailer. The plan was to attend a barista course in Portland to learn how to truly create amazing coffee. However 2020 had other plans for us. March came and shut the whole country down and there went that dream. During this time I was also battling with food sensitivities & food allergies for years. So since the world was shut down and we had nothing, but time we decided we would We work on pastries, because who doesn’t want a delicious pastry with their coffee.
In 2021 I was diagnosed with IBS-C and several food allergies that altered how I had to eat. Now we are a sweets family and I just couldn’t deal with not being able to have my sweets. I was never able to find bakeries that provided vegan sweets with great taste so, I decided I would create that bakery, with mouth watering eats. Knowing that I couldn’t be the only one suffering like this so I kicked it into gear and worked on recipe after recipe. Our cinnamon roll quickly became a hit, advancing us into one of the most prominent farmers markets in Utah the Downtown SLC Farmers Market. Once we added our donuts to the menu that was all she wrote. Our product is made with quality ingredients, and doesn’t give you that overwhelming sugar high that leaves you feeling lethargic. Never overly sweetened, or lacking flavor. After two successful careers in the Army my husband and I are able to work in the business full time as partners. With our success from the farmers markets (downtown SLC, & Wheeler Farms) we were able to open our first brick and mortar right where it all started for us in downtown Salt Lake City.
Having a brick and mortar is completely different from farmers markets or pop-ups. It definitely has its challenges, staying staffed with bakers has proven to be one of the hardest challenges, so Byron and I are still in there baking our little hearts out. However; it’s so rewarding to see people choose you daily. There are times I walk into the shop and can’t believe it’s mine, that this is my life and I get to do it all with my husband and partner.
People always ask if I grew up baking or was a baker prior, and the answer is no, well unless you count the Nestle Toll House cookies that you pull a part and bake if that counts then I’m a true baker for years hahahaha. No, but honestly I tell people that this is a God given gift, he knew that I was ready for change and honestly it saved my life. For years I felt like I had no purpose and was suffering from severe depression from the military, but God used baking to save my life.
I’m not quite sure what is next for eats, but I pray that we are able to really build community in our space, a place where people can connect with family and friends, or study, or work for the day. We currently fill our walls with local vendors who sometimes can’t afford to be in a studio or gallery. They get to sell their art and we get to have beautiful walls. We’d love to start using the space to do art shows, game nights, live music etc. Hopefully we can one day open a store in California to be closer to our family and friends.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road at all. From funding, to the challenge of trying to hire and retain bakers. This has been one of the most challenging obstacles. It often leads us to being in the kitchen baking DAILY. The other challenge has been trying to figure out what the customer wants and when, and knowing how much product to provide daily. Some days we sell out by 10-11am. Some days we sell out by end of the day and some days you have a lot of product left. Right now things are really expensive and customers are definitely more intentional on spending. I guess a silver lining if you have to find one is people always want a treat something to make them feel good, cozy, and they love doing it with friends or family in beautiful spaces, which I feel our shop provides all of that.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about eats ?
Eats Bakery & Coffee started from a necessity and for a love for creating food and drinks that feel exciting, comforting, and memorable. We wanted to build a space where people could come in for great coffee, creative pastries, and an atmosphere that feels welcoming and full of personality. A lot of people are surprised to learn how much intention goes into everything we make—from our house-made syrups and real fruit purées to our rotating seasonal flavors and small-batch baking style.
We’re a bakery and coffee shop known for our donuts, cinnamon rolls, breakfast sandwiches, matcha drinks, and creative seasonal menus. We specialize in taking familiar comfort foods and giving them a fresh, elevated twist through flavor combinations and quality ingredients. People especially know us for our large, fluffy cinnamon rolls, rotating donut flavors, creative matcha and espresso drinks, several house-made syrups and real ingredients, fun, personality-driven social media content, selling out of popular items regularly because everything is made fresh in small batches. We want people to walk in and feel like there’s always something new to try. We want them to feel cozy and comfortable to be there with friends, family, their kids whatever it’s a space for everyone and every event.
What sets us apart is that we focus on flavor, creativity, and experience first. We’re very intentional about making products that feel indulgent and exciting while still being approachable to everyone.
We also put a huge emphasis on ingredients and preparation. We use real fruit, make many of our syrups in-house, and try to create drinks and pastries that feel thoughtful rather than overly artificial or overly trendy.
Another thing that makes us different is our personality as a brand. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We like creating fun moments online and in person, and we want people to feel a genuine connection to the shop; not just the food.
We’re most proud of building a brand that brings together all kinds of people. Our customer base is incredibly diverse, and we love that people come in simply because the food and drinks are good.
We’re also proud that we’ve built a strong identity so early on through farmers markets which are purely community based. People recognize our style, our flavors, our energy, and the experience we’re trying to create. Seeing customers come back repeatedly, bring friends and family, and support what we’re building means everything to us.
We want people to know that Eats is about more than just coffee and pastries—it’s about experience, creativity, and quality. Whether someone comes in for a quick coffee, a cinnamon roll, a breakfast sandwich, or to try one of our seasonal drinks, we want it to feel memorable.
We’re love experimenting with flavors, creating new menu items, collaborating with local businesses and vendors, and finding ways to keep things fresh and exciting, but not so new and experimental that you feel like you never get that one item that you loved again. At the end of the day, we just want to make food and drinks that people genuinely enjoy and create a space people are excited to come back to.
What we say at eats is you can’t buy happiness, but we sure can bake it!
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Some of the characteristics that I feel are most important to our success are faith, faith that God will fulfill his promise to us that this will be amazing and allow us to help others who may have given up on finding eats that they can have because they have allergies, or food sensitivities. Faith that the community will step out of their comfort zone and try to open their minds and hearts to something they may not have normally tried.
Determination is another being determined to make this work even when it’s hard even when we are aren’t sure how things will come together.
Trust, trust in each other that we will show up at our best. Trust in our community that they will show up for us too. Trust that we can do this and it will work.
Passion, you have to have passion to do this to be an entrepreneur requires so much passion you have to truly love what you do, love the gift because when it gets hard if you don’t you will give up. No one can prepare you fully for what this life looks like so you have to lead with passion so that you don’t give up.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Eatsbakeryandcoffee.com
- Instagram: eats_bakery
- Facebook: eats
