“This is my baby. I come in each day to see the people who return again and again - who share their stories, their lives. That’s what makes it all worth it.” When Paramjit Kaur was eleven years old, she moved with her family from Punjab, India, to Salt Lake City. They already had family in the area and "it made sense for us to come here." A few years later, at the age of fifteen, she began working as a server at her family’s restaurant, Star of India. 

“Sugar runs in my veins,” Felicia (Fee) Hanson said with a smile, as she looked around the warm, whimsical space she has built. “I just love making people happy - with candy, with food, with community.” Sweet Hazel, Fee’s vegan bakery, market, and café, is tucked into a cozy strip that includes Leavity Bread and Star of India. Named after her beloved cat, Hazel, Fee said that “She was my soul cat. When I started this adventure, I didn’t know what to name it, and my sister-in-law said, ‘What about Sweet Hazel?’ It just felt right.”

“It was my dad who introduced me to cooking,” recalls the owner, Todd Bradley, of Leavity Bread & Coffee, a brand-new bakery and coffee shop. “I’ve always been my father’s son, and cooking together in the kitchen was something special we shared. That early connection to food sparked a lifelong passion that’s led me here.” Not to forget Todd’s mother, her spaghetti and salmon dishes will always have a special place in his heart.

“After everything, I needed a way to rebuild, something that could give me a fresh start. That’s what Sheer Ambrosia is for me - it’s my way of reinventing myself,” Rita Magalde said with a quiet determination as she shared her incredible story with me.