San Antonio’s Southern Roots Vegan Bakery creates vegan treats for all to enjoy.

Adapting to a new lifestyle and diet personally is one thing. Taking that to the masses as a professional calling is a whole other pursuit. For Marcus and Cara Pitts, the husband and wife team behind San Antonio’s Southern Roots Vegan Bakery, that just so happened to be the case. What started as their personal goal to live a healthier lifestyle has turned into the award-winning business they established together in 2018.

Southern Roots Vegan Bakery has been nominated Best Vegan Bakery in the country by Veg News for 2021 and 2022, thanks to the moist and delicious range of offerings in store, including vegan donuts, cookies, cupcakes, 8-inch layer cakes, cake donuts, turnovers, and more, and all available through nationwide shipping. “We're proud to say most of our customers actually aren't vegan and they don't realize that they're eating a vegan product,” says Cara.

All the Flavor

“We are gearing up to go all in on corporate clients.  We're looking to partner with different companies and organizations that want to have in-house snacks for their employees to have plant-based options. We're intentional about trying to increase our footprint in that department,” she shares about current plans. “We want to be intentional about making sure all dietary restrictions can be accommodated at the workplace.”

The desserts at Southern Roots Vegan Bakery are all Southern-inspired thanks to Cara’s grandmother being from the South and Cara being raised around southern desserts. Common flavors are banana pudding and red velvet and the top sellers are the assorted dozen of the cake donuts, the Mary Lee's cake — a lemon cake named after Cara’s grandmother — and the volcano cakes,  jumbo-sized cupcakes with frosting in the middle.

As for house favorites, Cara’s is the funfetti volcano cake with vanilla and sprinkles, Marcus enjoys the chocolate luxury volcano cake and grandma, of course, likes the Mary Lee’s lemon cake named after her and has made her a celebrity. There are no animal products used, so all products are dairy free. Oat milk made in-house is used instead. Different egg replacers, such as flax seed or apple sauce, are also used for different products.

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In the works are a pineapple upside-down cake and a peach cobbler cake — both being tried and tested for availability by Christmas and the start of the new year, respectively. Seasonal flavors include pumpkin spice and lemon.

Additionally, Southern Roots Vegan Bakery has a subscription-based donut of the month club, which is another way to test customer sentiment for different flavors via a mystery box concept. Past flavors have included coffee cake and peppermint.

The Business Journey

Marcus and Cara met in 2013 while working at a healthcare insurance company. But Cara, concerned with the declining quality of life of her then 94-year-old grandmother (who had a stroke and lived in a nursing home), quit in 2017 to be her caregiver. During this time, after watching the documentary “What the Health,” Marcus decided to change his lifestyle and eating habits to vegan.

“That set me on the path to veganize things that we were already making,” says Cara, who loves cooking and trying recipes. “My grandmother was our original taste tester because I was already making her meals, and seeing the change in her with a vegan diet was mind blowing. She was having more energy, was off her medication. She has so much more life in her at 99 years old by eating a healthier diet.”

When sharing products with friends and family and being encouraged to launch their own business, the couple came across Launch SA, which is a local entrepreneurship business hub, and applied for the next 10-week culinary business growth accelerator, Break Fast and Launch. “It changed our lives,” says Cara. “It was a crash course in starting a business. It helped us get our licenses and permits.”

That was 2018 and the self-funded business was established with the two of them. Just before the accelerator, Marcus was laid off from work. “It was upsetting, but it was a blessing in disguise because had he not been let go from the company, we would have not been able to do that culinary accelerator; it was during the work week and for six hours a week,” says Cara. “That was a really pivotal moment in our business.

Experiencing Sweet Success

In early 2020 while a vendor at one of the many farmers markets, the couple had the opportunity to meet actress and social media personality Tabitha Brown, who embraces veganism. Brown later made a video trying out their products and that went viral. In June, during the Black Lives Matter movement, with consumers wanting to be intentional in supporting Black-owned businesses, Cara saw a demand for products again.

The small space they were in at the time was insufficient to meet demand. But friends introduced them to the bakery owners of the space where they are today and Southern Roots Vegan Bakery has been operating there since 2020. “They've helped us scale and grow our business.  It's a blessing to have them where we don't have to take on the whole expense of having our own brick and mortar, but we do want to eventually get our own space,” says Cara.

Despite those highs, business is very much a state of ebbs and flows, she admits, and scaling the business has been a challenge. But being at this stage in the business has also translated to instrumental connections such as those that have helped in the corporate gifting space that Cara and Marcus are focussing on. Future goals include a presence in hotels and performance arenas—places where vegan options are usually not found.

Another area of focus is nursing homes and hospitals for the elderly and other venues where vegan options are few and far between. “With me being a caregiver for my grandmother, senior care is important to me,” says Cara. “As people get older, we tend to not value them as much. There can be a lot of change in the food industry for seniors. They deserve to eat high-quality meals and things that they like and enjoy.”

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Southern Roots Vegan Bakery is located at 6208 S Flores Street and is online at www.southerootsvegan.com. Follow them on Instagram and Facebook for the latest updates.