Try some free samples. Buy a muffin and coffee or a soup and salad. Pull up a chair. And stay a while — for hours if you like — in one of the six Paradise Bakery locations in the Salt Lake area (including a new one in American Fork). This franchise with a strong Utah presence wants you to feel at home — like you are sitting in your own living room.
“We are kind of like the Cheers of the restaurant business,” says Brad Koivu, a manager at the Sugar House Paradise Bakery (at 1010 E. 2100 South in Salt Lake). “People like to come here and make it their home.” It doesn’t matter what you are craving or how long you are staying; Paradise Bakery wants everyone to feel welcome. “We get people here for a quick lunch and people that set up board games,” Koivu says. Paradise Bakery is not the sort of place to hurry you out the door to feed the next person, he explains.
The atmosphere at Paradise Bakery is “fun, funky, casual” — it’s what some call “fast casual,” Koivu says. The Sugar House location is typical. Customers purchase their food at a long front counter where they can watch their meal being prepared. Then they choose from a wide variety of seating in the softly lit restaurant. Options range from lounge chairs by a fire — which is a good place to read a book — to tables that can be grouped together for larger gatherings.
Paradise Bakery specializes in fresh pastries, sandwiches, soups and salads — the sort of food more people would make at home if they had time. Employees — like those at the Sugar House location —show up for work at 4 a.m. to ensure that the croissants and fresh-squeezed orange juice tastes like your mom just finished making it. To further guarantee that everything is fresh, Paradise Bakery locations only prepare small quantities. “We do not carry any bake goods into a second day,” Koivu says.
There are as many favorites at Paradise Bakery as there are items on the menu. But Koivu has noticed a number of popular dishes at the Sugar House location. Hands down, the most popular soup is the “famous” fire roasted garlic tomato. Sandwiches: chicken walnut and turkey cranberry. Salads: Crumbly bleu cheese and chopped barbecue chicken. Pastries: muffins and cookies.
Still unsure what you want? Don’t worry. Paradise Bakery will give you a free taste. They have cookie and bread samples on display, and if you ask, you can sample the soups. “You are free to try it before you buy it here,” Koivu says. The samples and everything else support one end: inspiring customers to tell a friend, “You have to go to Paradise.”
— By Thad Kelling
SLC area locations
- American Fork, 562 W. Main St., 801-216-8484
- Cottonwood Heights, 1400 E. Fort Union Blvd., 801-676-5280
- Salt Lake City, 618 E. 400 South, 801-746-6990
- Salt Lake City, 1010 E. 2100 South, 801-485-6100
- Sandy, 10431 S. State St., 801-676-7323
- West Bountiful, 135 N. 500 West, 801-383-6450
More info
For store hours and additional details, go to www.paradisebakery.com.
I can taste the muffins right now. And you gotta love the bottomless cups of coffee.