Sweet to Lick Vegan Bakery in Williston Park closes

When Michael Sabet opened Sweet to Lick Vegan Bakery in 2013, his customers were drawn from the small group of Long Islanders who had decided not only to eschew meat, but also any food derived from animals: milk, butter, cheese, eggs.

Now veganism — often called “plant-based eating” — has hit the big time, but Sabet has shut the Hillside Avenue bakery while he contemplates his next venture. Sweet to Lick’s last day was Friday.

“Don’t think of this as the end of the series,” he said. “It’s just the end of the season. We’ll be back in some other form.” He added that right now he wants to spend more time with his three children, ages 3, 9 and 12.

Sabet, who started out selling vegan treats at farmers markets, said that his initial goal was not only to serve vegan customers, but to prove that plant-based desserts could compete with their “conventional” counterparts. "I've eaten a lot of vegan desserts," he told Newsday four months after opening. "And generally my response has been, 'It's good, for vegan.' What I wanted to do here was change the punctuation: 'It's good. Period.'"

Nine years later, Sabet proved his point, winning over plenty of people from Williston Park and environs “who just loved our baked goods.”

Ever the innovator, Sabet announced in 2014 that the bakery would accept payment in bitcoin, the international digital currency launched in 2009. That didn’t last long because, he said, “I was spending more time explaining bitcoin to people than veganism.”

In 2017, Sabet opened Sweet to Lick Vegan Market a few doors down from the bakery. The store was dedicated to sustainably sourced vegan goods, from dairy-free cheeses and ice cream to meat substitutes made from wheat and soy, to deodorant, soap and even meatless treats for dogs. But by 2018, he found that the chains were “already jumping on the vegan market and I just could not compete with them when it came to packaged goods.”

Sabet said that Long Island could expect his “next act” in a matter of “months, not years.” And he has big plans. “If the farmers markets were high school and the bakery was college, the next thing is going to grad school.”