The Bakery on Bergen
Akim Vann, owner of The Bakery on Bergen, knew early on in life that she would never have a 9 to 5 and wanted to work only for herself. In addition to running her Prospect Heights bakery, the Brooklyn native is a student life coach and tutor specializing in mathematics — self-described as a “tutor to the stars” with a clientele largely of young artists and industry children. Akim credits this entrepreneurial spirit to her father, legendary record producer and songwriter Teddy Vann.
“He was an entrepreneur who worked from home, so I grew up with the notion of being autonomous,” says Akim, who is also of Chinese descent on her mother’s side. “I watched him frequently not give up his work to other people, and that instilled in me the value of ownership.”
While Teddy Vann penned a number of hits (he won a Grammy for co-writing “The Power of Love” by Luther Vandross), our favorite work in his catalog is the 1973 single “Santa Claus is a Black Man” — which, incidentally, is sung by a five-year-old Akim. (Check the video below to hear Baby Akim with her dad on this holiday classic!)
“The song is a reflection of the incredible love that my father had for me as his child,” Akim says of the duet with her father, who passed in 2009. “But that was one song on an entire Christmas album, with the message to young Black people that all that is good and pure and representative of happiness does not have to be white. He was telling us the truth about the beauty of Black people and having a strong sense of self because he understood how empowering that is.”
Read on for details on more seasonal treats you can enjoy from Akim these days at The Bakery on Bergen.
When she opened The Bakery on Bergen six and a half years ago, Akim wasn’t actually a baker yet. That was the expertise of an initial business partner who later departed from the enterprise. “But when you’re in business, you should know all the nuts and bolts of it. Therefore, I learned how to bake,” she says.
Fortunately, she had a knack for it. “I’m a mathematician, and there’s so much math in baking — a lot of it is conversion. I think that’s the reason I took to it so easily.”
Though she talks about baking in terms of multiplication and units of measure, Akim’s confections are soulful, rich and delicious (and never cloyingly sweet). Top sellers include her chocolate chip cookies with smoked sea salt and the boozy vanilla rum cake. We also recommend the moist chocolate sable cookies, chewy cinnamon-sugar snickerdoodles and spiced carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.
Be sure to check out seasonal offerings including apple cinnamon cupcakes and Christmas cookies. “We do more blingy type of designs for the holiday season,” Akim says. “And we definitely do Black Santa cookies!”
“I’m a mathematician, and there’s so much math in baking — a lot of it is conversion. I think that’s the reason I took to it so easily.”
The inviting, Instagram-friendly decor at The Bakery on Bergen is the result of Akim’s collaboration with “Get a Room with Carson & Thom,” Bravo’s 2018 home makeover show. “The designers really got to know me, so while I trusted them as experts, they were able to create something that reflected my personality,” she says.
Pink marble tabletops and plush, pastel blue seating are tempered with more sophisticated accents like black and white curtains, green living walls popping with succulents and a red door (a symbol of good luck in Chinese culture). In these times, heated outdoor seating is also available, with delivery through bakeryonbergen.com and Grubhub.
Before COVID, Akim hosted regular classes and workshops from the bakery, including popular “math and baking” classes for children.
“Young Black girls and boys look up to a Black woman in business when they don’t necessarily expect that,” she says. “Giving back to them is important to me.”
740 Bergen St, Brooklyn, 917-519-6549, bakeryonbergen.com
