Sweet 1’s smell of success based partly on tradition Downtown Keyport site has served as a bakery for generations BY TAMMY McKILLIP Correspondent PHOTOS BY TAMMY MCKILLIP At Sweet 1 Bakery, Keyport, pastries are made fresh on the premises each day. KEYPORT — Tracy Kearney says when her fiancé, Carlos Mena, came home one night and announced he was buying a Keyport bakery, she thought he was crazy. Mena, who worked until two years ago as a catering chef at Lakeside Manor in Hazlet, had an extensive cooking background, but Kearney, a manicurist, had never imagined herself standing behind a counter, selling cookies all day. “I really thought he was crazy at first, but he seemed to think we could make it work, and, so far, he’s right,” said Kearney, a Matawan resident. Part of the success of Sweet 1 Bakery could be credited to its location. The red brick building at 18 West Front St. has always been a bakery, according to old-timers who frequent the establishment. As far back as anyone around here can remember, the large storefront windows have been filled with breads and cookies, and early-risers passing through the alleyway on their way to work have inhaled the aroma of freshly baked muffins, cakes and sweet buns. Tracy Kearney stands beside a display case of fresh cookies made at Sweet 1 Bakery. With the exception of a few new tables in the front room (created from pieces of the original back-room butcher block) and a recently added full-fare lunch menu, little has changed about the bakery over the past 80 or so years, Kearney said. “They used to bake the bread in a brick oven downstairs in the basement,” she said. “It’s no longer working, but everything else is pretty much the same. The oven in the back room is original. The display cases are mostly the original ones. They’re very deco.” “All of the aluminum baking trays are original. Isn’t that scary? They last forever. They don’t make things like that anymore.” Kearney said that with the exception of the breads, which arrive daily from Harvest House in Brick and a bakery in New York City, all of the cookies and pastries are freshly made each day, and the meats are all oven-roasted on the premises. Keyport’s West Front Street location of Sweet 1 Bakery. “We serve all fresh food,” she said. “It’s not prepared. Carlos even makes the coleslaw and the potato salad.” With so many changes taking place in the world outside, lifetime Keyport resident and retired schoolteacher Bob Russo looks forward to the friendly, familiar atmosphere of Sweet 1. He said he enjoys reminiscing about Keyport’s past with other locals who frequent the bakery. “I grew up in the house my mother grew up in,” he said. “It used to be that when you walked down the street, you knew everybody. People are more transient now. I lived on one corner, and my mother’s house was a few houses down, and her sister was a few houses down from that, and the guy she married was from a few houses down from there. People lived here for generations. Grandparents lived with people. It was very nice.” Russo said he grew up hearing a lot of stories about the bakery. “I remember hearing about how everybody lost everything during the Depression, and how the people who owned this bakery started from square one,” Russo said. “My Aunt Betty has one of the original marble-top counters from here.” “That’s what’s so cool about it,” said Kearney. “There’s history here, and it has always been a bakery — always.” She said she’s grateful that the bakery has done so well since they reopened in September after closing the month of August to remodel. The couple plans to open for dinner within the year. “New Jersey business is very weird,” she said. “There are a million places going out of business. It can be hard. This place has been here for so long. Hopefully, we’re safe. People do seem to like our stuff.” Sweet 1 Bakery does take-out and catering in addition to serving lunches and baked goods. The menu items, which change daily and range from $2.50 to $7.50, include soups, sandwiches, salads and entrees. For more information, call (732) 888-9895.