A beloved vegan bakery in Salt Lake City is closing after more than 10 years in business, but it’s not goodbye forever: The owner said she plans, eventually, to ship her plant-based baked goods nationwide.
Jessica Davies, owner of Passion Flour at 165 E. 900 South in the Maven District, announced on Instagram last week that the French patisserie and cafe would be closing on Sunday, Feb. 1.
“Due to changes in my personal life, I’ll be moving out of state,” Davies said in the post. “Because I’m so hands-on day to day, I’ve made the hard but intentional decision to close our brick-and-mortar.”
Davies told The Salt Lake Tribune that changes in her family are one reason she’s closing the bakery. Her partner got a job in another state, she said, where he’s been living since last summer, and Davies and their son have been traveling back and forth to spend time with him. “Something had to give,” Davies said, and she and her son are moving so their family can be together.
However, Passion Flour’s closure won’t be the end, she wrote in her post, “just a new chapter.”
Once Davies gets settled, she plans to start baking again and shipping her croissants and macarons around the country. She said she’s already pricing commercial kitchen space near her new home and figuring out shipping options.
Davies will be posting information about her new business format on her website, PassionFlourSLC.com, and on Instagram, at @passionflourslc.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Passion Flour vegan bakery in the Maven District, on Friday, Jan 23, 2026.
The beginning of Passion Flour
Davies, who’s from Salt Lake City, said she became interested in working in the kitchen as a child, when she would help her mom decorate cakes for friends’ weddings, and make fudge, cookie dough and caramels with her dad around the holidays for their neighbors.
Her interest in culinary arts continued through high school. After she graduated, she attended The French Pastry School in Chicago.
When she returned to Salt Lake City, Davies worked as the executive chef for a catering company for a couple of years, and then moved to Hawaii, where she made cakes for destination weddings, she said.
While living in Hawaii, Davies went vegan, and “started veganizing everything in my spare time,” she said. After work, she’d experiment with making vegan French macarons and croissants in her tiny kitchen with its half-size oven, by rolling dough out on foldable TV dinner trays.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Pistachio Chocolate Cherry Cupcake at Passion Flour vegan bakery in the Maven District, on Friday, Jan 23, 2026.
Davies moved back to Salt Lake City again in 2014. As she was applying for jobs, she felt that instead of working as a pastry chef somewhere, she could make and sell vegan French pastries, which weren’t available in Utah at the time, she said.
She opened Passion Flour the next year, with the goal of creating a space where “people can bring their non-vegan family members, and they can all enjoy their time here and not feel like they’re sacrificing a meal to eat somewhere that’s fully vegan,” she said.
Passion Flour became the go-to spot for many regular customers. Even non-vegan would “just come in because we’re a neighborhood coffee shop that’s nearby,” Davies said.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) French Macarons at Passion Flour vegan bakery in the Maven District, on Friday, Jan 23, 2026.
Fans from far and wide
Passion Flour is currently the only bakery in Salt Lake City offering French vegan pastries, Davies said. Ever since she announced the shop was closing, people have been driving to visit from out of state, she said, including one person who drove overnight from Denver to buy a bunch of pastries, and then turned around and drove back.
Nearly 200 people commented on the Instagram post that said Passion Flour was closing, including other vegan businesses around town.
Roxy Carlson, who co-owns the vegan sandwich shop Buds and vegan dessert spot Monkeywrench, told The Tribune that it’s “incredibly sad to see an institution like Passion Flour shutting their doors. An all-vegan patisserie is a rare thing to find in general, let alone in a city like Salt Lake.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) St Horns at Passion Flour vegan bakery in the Maven District, on Friday, Jan 23, 2026.
Carlson said she has traveled to other larger cities to explore their vegan options, and “Passion Flour feels like it was plucked right out of a hip NYC borough or L.A. neighborhood. Jessica’s pastries can hold their own with any other patisseries, vegan or not.”
Until Passion Flour closes, Davies is doing a countdown on Instagram, featuring a different “customer favorite” item each day. If someone comes into the bakery and mentions the post, they can get 10% off that item.