Who loves Vegan Treats? Alkaline Trio do so much they wrote a jingle. Hear it here!






For the past decade, DANIELLE KONYA has amassed a rampant and hungry following for her vegan confections and her hugely successful Pennsylvania bakery, Vegan Treats. From lemon cream cupcakes to chocolate-encased strawberry shortcake, if you can envision your dream dessert, odds are Konya has a vegan version that’ll blow away any traditional varieties. She’s earned a PETA Proggy Award for “Best Vegan Bakery” in 2008 and won “Best Overall” on the PBS competition Feast Of Sweets, all the while developing a cult following in the celebrity world–especially among musicians. In fact, the members of Alkaline Trio are such fans that drummer Derek Grant recorded a jingle for Vegan Treats that we’re premiering exclusively above. While you listen and salivate, check out the interview that Konya gave to our writer NATTALIE TEHRANI.



It’s been nearly a decade since you opened your bakery. How do you come up with new recipes?

When I’m trying to sleep at night is when I come up with all the recipes. I’ll be lying there, and I’ll be like, “Oh, I know what we could make!” And then I go off on a mission to make it.



How did so many people find out about your bakery?

It’s always been by word-of-mouth. I don’t think we have ever tried hard to get [our name] out there. People have always found us, and it’s been growing so rapidly in the past 10 years. That’s a good thing though, right?



You have a huge fanbase among musicians. Who are your most frequent famous clients?

A lot of musicians, to be honest. We do get some actors and actresses, but most of them are in bands–like Davey Havok from AFI and the guys from Alkaline Trio. They’re all big supporters.



What do you think draws musicians to your bakery?

I think maybe because veganism is like a magnet for an alternative lifestyle. I think lots of musicians are eclectic individuals. That’s my take on it. Or maybe, one musician has it and the others go, “We want some!”



How did the jingle from Derek Grant come about?

One of the guys [in Alkaline Trio] called me one night and was like, “We have a present for you.” I was like, “You do?” Then they told me to check my e-mail. They’re just really big supporters and they’re friends. They made a video of them devouring the cakes and stuff. So that’s how the whole thing kind of came about.



What motivated you to become vegan?

I was out to dinner with my family and I saw a lobster. It was a nice restaurant and it had a big, open kitchen; and I saw the lobster in the steamer and it was scratching to get out of the pot. It was the first time I saw an animal suffer tremendously [before it became] a meal. I had ordered some sort of chicken dish, and they set it down in front of me and I was like, “I can’t eat this.” I could never eat meat again.



And your whole perspective changed that quickly?

Yeah, it’s weird. For years, you just don’t see a face on [eating a piece of meat]. That’s one thing about my bakery that I am so proud of is that I feel like I’m showing the negative side to the the cruelty, and I feel like I’m changing people’s minds. That’s a huge accomplishment for me.



Would you ever consider opening another bakery somewhere or perhaps writing a vegan recipe book?

I’ve received many offers for cookbooks by lots of different, large publications. But, at this point, we bake for so many restaurants-like, 80 or 85 restaurants–that I think it would be a bad thing to put out the recipes. I’m kind of holding out. I’m trying to open a manufacturing and wholesale facility and hopefully another retail store.



What are some new recipes you’re working on?

We’ve been working on a lot of candy lately. We’re working on caramel, which we have done in many different textures. We have done caramel squares, and we’ve also made it as fine as liquid. So we’re working on a lot of different caramel and candies and we want to incorporate the two. So basically we made vegan Twix bars, and people went insane over it. I didn’t even sell them. I just took them to a potluck and within 24 hours it was all over the internet.



If you could have any musician–dead or alive–come to your bakery, who would it be?

Wow, that’s a tough question. My favorite musician is probably Conor Oberst, and I already accomplished baking for him. I just like so many people. I would probably pick a non-musician, like Jane Goodall–the primate biologist. Is that weird? alt

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