New Ellsworth bakery will have seating and a drive-thru

A bakery that is expanding to Ellsworth will offer two things at its new site that it doesn’t currently offer at its other locations.

Sweet Cheeks customers will have the new options of using a drive-thru window, or sitting at a table inside the bakery after the business expands to the Mill Mall on State Street, according to a co-owner.

Jonathan Beal, who owns and operates the bakery with his partner Michael Roy, said they plan to renovate the drive-thru teller window at the former bank space so that customers can buy cookies, cakes or pies without having to leave their vehicles. And if customers want to come inside, they can sit at a table to eat after ordering at the counter.

They are not looking to open an exact copy of either their primary Verona Island location, which opened in 2021, or the self-serve site they opened on Route 1A in Holden this summer, according to Beal.

“We don’t want anything that is cookie cutter,” he said.

The Ellsworth location is relatively large at 2,100 square feet, he said, which will allow them to do more. Beal said they estimate they can fit roughly 30 seats in the bakery and still will have room for an adjacent self-service vending room, like they have in Verona.

The self-serve machines, which will have a separate entrance from the rest of the bakery, should be up and operating as soon as next month, he said. He said they are hoping to fully open the Ellsworth location for business this coming January.

Sweet Cheeks has a dozen employees now, he said, and expects to add another 10 positions in Ellsworth.

Beal said that since they opened their primary location three years ago, they’ve been looking for a chance to expand to Ellsworth.

“Ellsworth gets it,” he said of the business community and the customer base. “To me, they do it right. It is a place where a business wants to be.”

The bakery will be located at the opposite end of the mall from Dunkin’ and less than a half-mile from Imago Dei Cafe on State Street, which specializes in homemade doughnuts and is open five mornings a week. But Beal said he is not looking to compete with other businesses as much as becoming part of the Ellsworth community.

“We all have to work collectively to succeed,” he said. “We’re all for that.”

Ellsworth businesses are known to collaborate and help each other , Beal said, and Sweet Cheeks wants to be a community partner. It helps sponsor Little League baseball and scholarships for graduating high schools in Bucksport, and plans to do the same in Ellsworth, he said.

Beal said he is “so grateful” for the response to the bakery’s Facebook announcement that it plans to expand to the city. The post has gotten more than 1,000 likes, more than 100 shares, and nearly 400 comments.

“We are so pleased with how well it has been received,” Beal said. “I knock on wood every day. Not everyone can enjoy going in to work and loving what you do.”