Eats

Address: 248 East 100 South

Telephone: 385-337-8368

Website: instagram.com/eats_bakery

District: Downtown

 

“I turned to Byron and said, ‘Can we be a donut shop?’ And boom, here we are.” Kandy and Byron Tesen never set out to open a bakery. In fact, when they first met in the Army over two decades ago, they could not have imagined that one day, they would be creating rosemary chocolate chip cookies, lavender and earl grey mini loaves, and glazed habanero peach donuts in their own sun-filled café. But after years of service and sacrifice, the couple opened Eats - a vegan bakery that is equal parts community hub and creative playground.

Byron grew up in Guatemala and came to the U.S. in 1994 with his siblings, settling first in California. He finished high school and enlisted in the Army, serving for twenty-four years, including deployments to Kuwait and Iraq. He met Kandy, originally from California, while stationed there in the early 2000s, and the two became fast friends. They married in 2014. Kandy also served, including a deployment to Afghanistan. “We both loved serving,” Byron said, “but it wears you down. I knew my goal was to complete twenty-four years, and when I reached it, I was ready to retire.” 

The Army brought them to Utah in 2018. At first, it was meant to be temporary. But slowly, they started to see the place, and their intention, more clearly. Kandy put it simply: “This is our purpose. God was moving me to something else. I just didn’t know what it was yet.”

Bryon and Kandy’s initial dream was a coffee truck. They traveled to California to source beans and research mobile kitchen setups. And then the pandemic hit, shuttering barista schools and derailing their plans. Instead, Kandy, who had always had a sweet tooth, turned her focus to pastries. “We started with a vegan cinnamon roll,” Byron said. “Our son is picky, but even he said, ‘Mom, this is good.’”

Kandy had no formal training. “Before this, the closest I came to baking was Toll House cookies,” she laughed. But she fell in love with the process - messy, creative, and ever-evolving. “We are definitely different types of bakers,” she said. “He’s neat and follows the directions. I’m a rebel with a cause.”

Kandy lost her sense of taste and smell during Covid, but instead of giving up, she adapted. “I’ve trained my mouth to remember how things should feel,” she said. “It starts out scrumpdillyicious and then becomes scrumpdillyiciouser.” She tweaks as she goes, always experimenting. “We might think it tasted great today, but then we add a teaspoon more of lavender or cinnamon and realize it’s even better.”

Eats quickly gained a reputation for unique, high-quality vegan pastries – think blackberry and cream cinnamon rolls, sage and rosemary cheddar biscuits and lavender shortbread. They are committed to sourcing locally, especially during summer fruit season. “We go to multiple peach growers,” Kandy said. “Each one tastes slightly different - subtle, sweeter - and we like to highlight all of the farmers.”

It was Byron who recognized the tipping point. “We were doing farmers markets, catering, pop-ups, but we didn’t have enough space to meet the demand,” he said. With help from Salt Lake City’s Economic Development team, they found their current location in a 1920s building that needed love but had potential. They opened their doors in June 2025.

Inside, the space is inviting and spacious, with seating for over fifty and a big counter filled with freshly baked goods. They serve coffee from Millcreek Coffee Roasters, offer house-made seasonal drinks, and welcome a wide range of customers - from local students to nonprofit CEOs to neighborhood artists who stop by multiple times a week. “A lot of our farmers market customers have followed us here,” Byron said. “They come in, grab a donut, stay, and chat. That’s the dream.”

Their passion is not just in the food. It is in the experience. “Everything has to be right for us,” Kandy said. “The taste, the texture, the look, the moment. If it is not up to our standards, it is not going out.” She traces that commitment back to her grandmother. “She had a love of conversation and always welcomed people into her home for delicious meals and cakes. Most were too beautiful to eat,” she said. “I did not realize it at the time, but she instilled so much in me.”

Kandy and Byron both see Eats as a way to plant family roots, to pass something meaningful to their children. “We are two retired soldiers from the U.S. military just trying to build something for our family,” Kandy said. “And we’re doing that through desserts.”