N.S. home baker launches bakery cart in Centreville

A home baker has the right recipe for success.

As a young girl, Tessa Swetnam had a love for sweet treats and dreamt of having her own bakery one day.

“I started ‘Sweetly Tess’ two-and-a-half years ago and it’s a gourmet cookie business – cookies and brownies – and I always – the same as every other baker – loved to bake and give to family and friends,” says Swetnam.

Swetnam worked as a nanny in childcare for years and gave her baked goods as gifts. Someone suggested she sell them and so Swetnam started by making cookies for friends.

“My friend Erin actually posted them on TikTok and everyone was commenting and it kinda blew up,” says Swetnam.

After going viral on social media, baking became Swetnam’s fulltime job.

She does multiple markets a week and custom orders through social media, her website and weddings. She offers a variety of cookie flavours, brownies and more.

“One of our most popular cookies is the lemon zest cookie. I launched it, I think last summer, and I never expected it to be so popular,” says Swetnam.

She is always switching out her cookie selection for the different seasons and holidays, taking advantage of seasonal fruits and flavours.

Swetnam’s mother Heather says she couldn’t be more proud of her daughter’s success.

“To hear your child say, ‘I’m literally living my dream,’ you can’t ask for anything else as a parent,” says Heather Swetnam.

In 2024, Tessa Swetnam won platinum for Halifax’s favorite cookie after a nomination in Halifax’s CommunityVotes 2024.

“It means so much to even be nominated for something like that and it means even more that people love my business as much as I do,” says Swetnam.

The newest addition to her business is a bakery cart, which she found through Facebook Marketplace.

“I had done up some inspiration and showed it to my mom and she had taken a couple of days to paint it up without me knowing,” says Swetnam.

“She’s so busy with all of her markets, she was like, ‘I don’t know how I am going to get the cart painted, I don’t have time,’” says Heather Swetnam. “We spent last weekend with some paint and a few hours of hard work and surprised her.”

The launch date for the gourmet cookie cart is June 29 and it will be stationed in Centerville, N.S.

“For me, it’s traffic and organic customers stopping in, taking a look, learning about my business and trying my products is such a great way to get my name out there,” says Swetnam.

Swetnam says her dream is to one day open her own storefront, but for now she can’t wait to welcome customers to her new bakery cart.

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