New 'Microbakery' Brings Nut-Free Treats To Park Slope

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — When the coronavirus crisis hit, Meghan Beal was working her way towards a years-long dream of turning her baking hobby into a real-life business.

But the pastry school graduate didn't let the pandemic stop her. Instead, she is among a growing number of New Yorkers who pivoted or found entrepreneurial plans amid a tumultuous year.

The result is "meghabee’s bakery," an online-only business that brings Beal's treats to Park Slopers through a local ordering and pick-up system.

"I always imagined a brick and mortar storefront, but with the pandemic it made more sense to operate as a micro-bakery out of my home kitchen," Beal told Patch.

Meghabee's, which launched shortly after the new year, includes a menu of cookies, cupcakes and granola, all of which are nut-free. Customers can order them online and pick them up at the Old Stone House in Park Slope on Saturdays.

The bakery is the result of a longtime dream for Beal, who said she first picked up her baking hobby from her grandmother growing up in Michigan.

It was her own allergies that then sparked the "pipe dream" for the business, she said, though, a student for international education at the time, she had to put it on the back burner.

"I was in college when I had my first anaphylactic reaction to tree nuts, and shortly after found out that my food allergies extended far beyond that, including peanuts as well. Almost overnight I found myself unable to eat so many of my favorite foods," she said.

"...It was then that I started to imagine opening a bakery that was entirely free of peanuts and tree nuts, where people with allergies could come and enjoy baked goods without any anxiety."

Beal soon decided education wasn't the career for her, and decided to go to pastry school in 2018. She has been working restaurants and bakeries since.

With meghabee's, Beal hopes to one day expand into farmer's markets and to offer nationwide shipping.

That expansion, like starting the business itself, will likely come with the support of other "makers" in Brooklyn and Park Slope that Beal said has become an important part of opening a business in this challenging time.

She has become part of a "community of entrepreneurs," many of whom started their own projects during the pandemic and has found new ways to connect with Park Slopers through the internet.

"I think the one silver lining has been the way that the community has banded together," she said. "We can turn to one another for advice or support, which has been wonderful...Although it has definitely been stressful at times, I am very grateful for my neighborhood."