Sweet Bites and a second branch of Lavender Bakery join Rainbow Donuts in Berkeley’s “International Marketplace.”
July 17, 2025
BERKELEYSIDE — For years, Amanda Vazquez saved toward her dream of opening a bakery. Vazquez moved to the U.S. from Mexico when she was 18, and found work boxing cakes at a bakery where her brother-in-law worked. Enchanted by the art of cake decoration, she spent her lunch breaks teaching herself the craft. She quickly moved into a management role, and stayed in the profession for nearly 30 years.
In January 2024, Vazquez finally achieved her dream when she and her daughter, Kiara Coronado, opened Sweet Bites Bakery and Brunch on San Pablo Avenue at Addison Street, on the ground floor of Elegance Berkeley, a senior living facility.
The bakery/cafe sits in West Berkeley’s “International Marketplace” just south of University. The corridor has long had an abundance of restaurants from around the world, not to mention grocery stores. Now there is a growing number of bakeries, including Rainbow Donuts and Lavender Breads and Cafe.
At Sweet Bites it’s not just a mother-daughter team — Vazquez’s husband, Fernando Ocampo, is the restaurant’s chef, while Coronado’s 13-year-old daughter, Melania, often appears after school.
When the two women signed the lease, the 1,400 square-foot space was an empty shell. That allowed Vazquez to finally build a kitchen to her specifications.
“I already had my vision, where I need this table here or that appliance there,” said Vazquez. She also seized on the opportunity to design a dining room. The airy, light-filled room is anchored by a plant-covered wall, designed and built by Vazquez herself.
“She’s relentless,” said her daughter, Coronado.
The brunch menu includes a pull-apart French toast (made with brioche bread baked in house) and a crispy chicken sandwich. Baked items range from classic cakes, pastries and patisserie to international as well as vegan and gluten-free offerings, all made from scratch in Sweet Bites’ kitchen. Vazquez’s recipes are primarily Mexican, French, Italian and Persian in origin, although she reduces the sugar ratios of the original recipes by as much as one-third.
“That’s one of their biggest surprises when people have our cakes,” Coronado said. “The biggest compliment we get all the time is that it’s delicious but it’s not overly sweet. The Berkeley customer really appreciates that.”
Lavender Bread & Cafe: “the American dream”
When Ali Sadeghi moved to Berkeley from Tehran, he already had an MBA and a master’s degree in industrial engineering, as well as experience running an automobile thermal systems business in Iran. Rather than find similar work in the Bay Area, he saw the move as an opportunity to pursue the American dream, which, to him, meant opening a small business.
He reached out to his cousin, Mojgan Fazeli. She had successfully taken over two bakeries in the South Bay, La Patisserie and Sugar Butter Flour. The ide was to offer the bestsellers from both at a bakery in Berkeley. Fazeli, as Saghedi’s business partner, was happy to share her recipes and, in return, enlist his business savvy.
“I was in tech before, but the fundamentals of running a business are similar,” Sadeghi said. “You need to know finance, marketing and strategy, and those are all things I had experience with.”
Meanwhile, the move to the U.S. also allowed Sadeghi to reconnect with an old friend, Hanieh, he had known in Tehran. The two soon wed, and in 2018, the Sadeghis opened the first Lavender Bakery with Fazeli on Solano Avenue, in the former La Farine space. Lavender was an instant hit.
Hanieh really took to the role of production leader, overseeing the baking. She loves finding new recipes and refining existing ones to create everyday items, as well as seasonal specialties like Thanksgiving pies, the French buche de Noel for Christmas, King’s Cake in January, and traditional Jewish items such as challah and sufganiyah, a jelly donut eaten during Hanukkah. She has fun coming up with rotating weekly and monthly desserts, like Hazelnut Crunch, and mousse-based creations for special occasions such as Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. She draws inspiration from old cookbooks found at estate sales.
Her current favorite Lavender recipes include honey almond cookies, burnt almond dessert, flourless raspberry chocolate mousse, and tiramisu.
In 2023, the Sadhegis took over a prime spot on San Pablo Avenue near Addison and transformed it into Lavender’s second location, Lavender Breads & Cafe, supervised by Josh Greninger. The new spot is a light-filled cafe where guests can sip high-quality coffee (from Four Barrel in San Francisco). It’s also the center for Lavender’s bread production, which includes baguettes and daily loaf specials.
Rainbow Donuts: a donut dynasty
For Alan Chow, donuts are the family trade. Chow, who is Cambodian-American, is the second-generation owner of Rainbow Donuts, on San Pablo Avenue near University Avenue.
The family’s relationship with donuts goes back decades. After Chow’s grandfather died in the Cambodia-Vietnam War, his grandmother escaped to the U.S. She settled in San Bernardino County and opened Jelly Donuts. His parents ran multiple donut shops around the East Bay (before they retired) while their six children helped out after school and on weekends.
Today three of the siblings run East Bay donut shops: Alan’s twin brother, Alex Chow, runs Happy Donuts in Oakland, and his middle brother, Thompson Chow, runs Happy Donuts in Albany.
“Cambodians all run donut shops,” said Alan Chow. “Have you seen The Donut King, the documentary? That guy was my grandma’s friend.”
When Alan turned 18, his parents gave him the choice of either going to college or taking over their shop on San Pablo.
“I had the grades to go to a UC,” Chow recalled. “But I just wanted to start working.”
Chow took over the shop in 2012 from his parents, who themselves purchased the shop in the early 2000s. (Rainbow Donuts opened in 1985.)
The shop was in a bit of a slump when Alan took over, but now it sells out most days by noon. How did he do it? Chow pointed to the shop’s creative recipes — drawn from inspiration he finds online, especially Instagram. The ever-popular original glazed donuts sit alongside flavors like Maple bacon, cinnamon crumb, red velvet and ube donuts. Vegan donuts, croissantwiches, bagels and donut sliders are also on offer. For special celebrations, Rainbow also crafts custom donuts, including giant donut cakes that can be arranged to spell out messages.
Another factor for the success — “really good coffee,” brewed from beans roasted by Zolo at Berkeley’s co-roasting facility and cafe, CoRo.
Chow also credited his wife and co-owner, Lisa Ghilarducci Chow. She runs the social media for Rainbow and the couple’s other shop, Dynamite Donuts in Hercules, on top of her job as an ultrasound tech.
Chow said he’s always on the lookout to expand his donut empire. He said he and his wife plan to have “lots of kids” and hope to eventually pass down the shops, like his parents and grandmother before him.
“I want to teach them the business and show them what small business ownership is like,” Chow said. “I want to give them a choice just like my parents did. And I want them to know, it’s not easy.”
WHAT NEXT
- Mention this article, part of the citywide #DiscoveredinBerkeley campaign, for a freebie or discount at these International Marketplace bakers. (Until Aug. 31, Rainbow Donuts will offer readers who show or mention this article a free donut; Sweet Bites and Lavender Bread and Café on San Pablo will offer 10% off purchases.)
- Attend a Small Business Forum on Sept. 10 with the City of Berkeley Office of Economic Development (OED) to explore how the City can support your business during uncertain times. See details and how to RSVP on the City’s website.
- Visit the Discovered in Berkeley Stories page to find more articles about inspirational local businesses.
