All-vegan bakery opens in Bloomington

Bloomington’s newest all-vegan bakery is ready for business.

Rainbow Bakery officially opened Aug. 16 and has been more popular than expected, its owner said.

“It was surprising to us that Bloomington didn’t already have an all-vegan bakery,” said Lisa Dorazewski, Rainbow Bakery co-owner. “We spent so much time setting up the place we thought when we opened it would be a break, but we’ve been blown away with how busy it’s been.”

The day starts for Dorazewski and co-owner Matt Tobey between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., and they stay almost until close at 5 p.m.

Dorazewski and Tobey said they felt Bloomington needed a place where vegans could go to find quality baked goods. Tobey said he often travels to play music and is always on the hunt for a good treat.

“I always get excited when traveling out of town for great vegan,” he said. “And there are only about 10 places on my list that are, like, really good vegan bakeries.”

The two said they do not want non-vegan customers to judge it before they try it.

“We weren’t sure if we wanted to tell people that we were all-vegan. We didn’t want to scare people away,” Dorazewski said.

In the end, they did decide to advertise the business as all-vegan, mainly to bring in local vegan customers.

“We’ve only had a couple stinkers so far that don’t want to try something because it’s vegan. It hasn’t as been as bad as we thought,” Dorazewski said.

Zach Atherton, a Rainbow Bakery customer, said he also hopes many non-vegans will give it a try.

“I think it is important that it’s vegan, but anyone can enjoy it. She’s an incredible baker,” Atherton said. “My parents are strict meat-eaters and they really loved it.”

Atherton said he loves the bakery’s chocolate bacon doughnut. The “bacon” is actually coconut flakes marinated to taste like bacon while remaining vegan-friendly.

Although Dorazewski and Tobey are familiar with vegan baking, they said avoiding animal products is still challenging.

“For over a year I’ve been trying to find a way to make French macaroons, but it just seems impossible. They’re all egg whites” Dorazewski said.

The bakers are still optimistic for future recipes.

“We’ve been testing our limits physically,” Dorazewski said.

“But we want to be here,” Tobey added. “We love it.”