A Muncie vegan bakery has successfully raised more than $30,000 on Kickstarter to lease space in a downtown Muncie building.  As IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann reports, this will be the seven-year-old business’s first retail location of its own.

Sea Salt & Cinnamon baked goods have been a staple at the Minnetrista Farmer’s Market for years. (Photo: Sea Salt & Cinnamon on Facebook)

While you can find Sea Salt & Cinnamon sweet and savory items at several locations in the Muncie, Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne areas, owner Amanda Reninger and her husband Kyle never had a retail location of their own.  Instead, they cooked out of certified kitchens with little to no public space.

That will change this fall now that customers and fans have raised more than the couple’s $30,000 goal on Kickstarter to fund their move to the Patterson building in downtown Muncie.  The space was formerly Ivy Tech Community College’s café, Chesterfield’s.

Amanda Reninger says when they first started, many people didn’t know about vegan cooking.  She says a retail location will allow people to experience vegan and gluten free food in the best way possible.

“A lot of our gluten-free baked goods – you’re going to be able to have them the day that they’re made.  And that’s just a really big difference in taste and texture and all that.  So I’m super excited that we get to give people same-day items.”

Reninger is thrilled with the community support, especially after a pandemic year when many were struggling.

“We’ve put in years of sweat equity, we’ve put in years of, you know, paying our employees above ourselves, of donating things to the community, of helping out when and wherever we can.  Putting the Kickstarter up is kind of hard to do.  It’s a little bit of a kick to your ego to say, ‘Look, I can’t do this alone.’  But, I think, in the end, seeing everyone’s excitement – the people that gave $10 and $5 and the people that gave thousands of dollars.”

Reninger says Sea Salt & Cinnamon hopes to open the space to the public in mid-September.

Queer Chocolatier Also Campaigning On Kickstarter

Queer CHocolatier’s Morgan Roddy making small-batch chocolate. She hopes a Kickstarter campaign will help her buy bigger machines for more output. (Photo: Queer Chocolatier on Facebook)

There’s also another Muncie sweet shop that’s campaigning on Kickstarter to fund a new physical location.  Queer Chocolatier is leasing a spot just down Walnut Street from Sea Salt & Cinnamon.  Co-owner Morgan Roddy has set a $33,000 goal to build out a public space and a micro bean-to-bar chocolate factory.  Queer Chocolatier’s campaign is set to end on July 2.