A Sweet New Beginning In Peace Dale

With amazing synergy, everything clicked for James Creighton to become the new owner of Sweet Cakes. Creighton, a retired Providence firefighter, was looking around for something to keep him busy in retirement, and while scrolling through the business listings on Craig's List found an opportunity right in his backyard.

Enter Liz Gledhill (formerly Holland), who was finishing up a semester in France with Johnson & Wales University. Two weeks after she returned, she received an email from Creighton, the father of her friend Becca, asking if she would consider being his new baker.

“It was perfect timing” said Gledhill, “and exactly what I wanted to do. I didn't want to become a pastry chef at an expensive restaurant, but I wanted to bring that type of quality to the neighborhood level”.

Creighton said his feels like he inherited a national trust as the new owner.

“It has a unique place in the community” he said, “My goal is not to mess it up”. This is Creighton's first foray into food service but former co-owner Betsy Rosengarden is staying on through Christmas to help with the transition.

“There was already a great team in place” he said, “I just try to stay out of the way”. The surprises for him so far have all been good. “I love how popular the lunches are” he said, “especially the home made soups”. Cook Kathy Curley gets the credit for those.

Gledhill grew up right around the corner from Sweet Cakes, so has come full circle and back home. Her father, Peter Holland, was once the fire chief of the Union Fire District and her mother Cheryl works right across the street at The Little Red Hen Consignment store. Liz also served time as a volunteer firefighter in South Kingstown, and is married to firefighter Michael Gledhill.

“In France the focus was on fresh, local and seasonal ingredients” she said. “The owners were already following those traditions here. There are no unpronounceable ingredients in any of our products”.

The goal for new owner Creighton, beyond 'not messing up a good thing', is to expand into the hard crust breads that he loves. He will be researching ovens and recipes this fall to see if they can add that warm loaf of bread to pick up on the way home for dinner. He has no plans to put his hands in the dough himself anytime soon though.

“I made that promise to the citizens” he said, “That's a bridge too far”.

Sweet Cakes offers scones, muffins and breakfast sandwiches in the morning, coffee and smoothies, sandwiches and soups at lunch and bread, baked goods and pastries all day. The hours will remain the same: Mon-Sat, 7am-5pm and Sun, 8am-2pm.