Reine Keis is used to surprising people with her vegan comfort food at SweetArt Bakeshop & Cafe.
Take, for example, parents who need cakes for kids with dietary restrictions.
鈥淭hey're thinking it's going to taste like, you know, three bricks with frosting,鈥� Keis said. Then they take a bite. 鈥溾�楢re you sure this is vegan?鈥� I love that. Yes, I'm 100,000% sure that it's vegan.鈥�
Keis is set to surprise once again. After running SweetArt for 16 years from a small storefront in St. Louis鈥� Shaw neighborhood, she鈥檚 making big changes. On Friday, Keis opened a stall in the Food Hall at City Foundry and will be relocating her main business to a bigger space in the Coronado building across from St. Louis University鈥檚 campus around April.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very easy to stay where you are and crank it out but, to be honest, if I don鈥檛 grow right now, I will close,鈥� Keis said. 鈥淪ometimes your hand is forced to get out of your comfort zone and try, and I think I鈥檒l do really well.鈥�
The way the pandemic changed dining culture in St. Louis meant that Keis either had to shrink or grow so the scale of her business would make sense, she said. The thought of only being open a few days a week with fewer employees didn鈥檛 sound good.
Plus, the Coronado space seems like the right move, she said. It has a turnkey kitchen and is situated near SLU, Grand Center attractions and various apartment buildings and businesses. Right now, the neighborhood lacks a spot to pick up coffee or tea early in the morning 鈥� a need Keis plans to fill.
Then there鈥檚 her City Foundry expansion, which she鈥檚 dubbed SweetArt Too 鈥� not two 鈥� 鈥渇or awesome.鈥�
Keis hadn鈥檛 wanted a second location for SweetArt when representatives from the Foundry approached her ahead of its opening in 2021. But when she'd visit, she'd notice the Food Hall didn鈥檛 have many vegan options. That helped change her mind when they approached her again last summer. She said yes this time.
And maybe SweetArt Too was destined.
鈥淚'd always been told by strangers and people who are seers and, you know, mystics,鈥� Keis said. 鈥淭hey would come, just come up to me and say, 鈥榊ou're supposed to have multiple locations of the thing that you do,鈥� and they don't know me. And I was like, 鈥榃ho are these crazies? Why do I attract the crazies?鈥� But I believed them.鈥�
The result of that belief has mostly taken shape on the eastern side of the Food Hall in a stall decorated with art by her two children, both artists like Keis鈥� ex-husband, Cbabi Bayoc.
Bayoc鈥檚 artwork hung on the walls at the original location when it first opened. That their children have art on her future businesses鈥� walls now is meaningful to Keis.
鈥淚t's just such a beautiful thing,鈥� she said.
SweetArt Too鈥檚 menu will feature mini versions of favorites from the old shop, such as the burgers, nachos, loaded fries and salads. Keis is pricing her food around $7, with various combo deals, and she is hoping to draw customers curious about eating plant based.
鈥淪ome people just still think vegan food is horrendous and nasty, even in 2025, so I wanted to have something that was smaller and approachable,鈥� she said.
Since SweetArt opened in 2008, Keis has seen St. Louisans become more accepting of her food as vegan fare has moved into the mainstream.
鈥淭here is this belief that plant-based food is something that white people do, but it's actually huge among Black people, in the Black community. A lot of my customers are Black, and they are vegan, or they're mostly vegan, flexitarian,鈥� she said. 鈥�... It wasn't a hurdle that I had to jump over. It鈥檚 a lifestyle that crosses cultures, and St. Louis and its diversity has many cultures that resonate toward the plant-based diet.鈥�
Opening the stall has taken much longer than Keis anticipated 鈥� she thought she鈥檇 be serving customers by September but is still waiting on two inspections.
But the ups and downs have helped her appreciate what she鈥檚 doing with her life.
鈥淭here's something about food and creating food and exchanging food and smiling at folks and interacting that is not like any other industry,鈥� Keis said. 鈥淪o I can't say it's been fun. It has been eye-opening. And, really, the eye-opening part is that I'm committed to the industry. This is what I do, and I think I like it.鈥�
