After almost 33 years, chefs and co-owners Alison Lane and Andrew Silva have put Mirabelles Bakery on the market for an asking price of $1.3 million. The bakery team of 15 will continue to produce its signature crème brûlée cakes, buttery croissants and fresh fruit tarts while Lane, 58, and Silva, 61, seek a buyer.
Lane said the business partners, who met in the late 1980s as students at the now-shuttered New England Culinary Institute, are “just ready to do something else.” Running a retail food business is “not something you can do part time … We’re ready not to think about it so much,” Lane said.
“We’ve been around for a freakishly long time,” she added with a laugh.
“We do love this business,” Lane continued. “It’s what we love to do: make good things for other people.”
Mirabelles Bakery opened on Burlington’s Main Street in 1990 with a retail bakery case and a café. While continuing to offer a full range of everyday and special-occasion baked goods, it evolved into a favorite downtown breakfast and lunch destination known for its popovers, omelettes and lunch specials.
In early 2020, Lane and Silva announced they were moving to 3060 Williston Road in South Burlington. They continued to do takeout breakfast and lunch sandwiches and take-and-bake meals, but they closed the restaurant part of the business to focus on the retail bakery. Mirabelles also expanded distribution of its frozen ready-to-bake pie dough, croissants and cinnamon rolls, which are sold at retail stores throughout Vermont.
At that time, Lane told Seven Days, “Andrew and I decided that we just wanted to simplify things. We’ve done this so long; simple was the direction.”
Lane and Silva believe they have a solid business, with plenty of room for growth, to offer a new owner.
“My vision is that somebody comes and decides to do some of their own new fun things, add their own style,” Lane said. “Customers love that, too.”
This article appears in Jun 28 – Jul 4, 2023.
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