McArthur's Bakery Cafe Helps The Sweet Divine Rise from the Ashes After Devastating Fire

    ST. LOUIS, MO, October 29, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- After a 1st alarm fire gutted The Sweet Divine's building in historic Soulard on the morning of Mon., October 17, the local bakery has found refuge at a new temporary home with McArthur's Bakery Cafe on the Delmar Loop.

It all started at 10 a.m. on October 17. The fire, which started in The Sweet Divine's decorating room and spread to the kitchen, was quickly controlled when firefighters arrived on the scene to put it out. Unfortunately, the fire destroyed the shop, charring the colorful pink and white rooms. Old wiring is to blame for the fire, which began in the basement ceiling and burned through the floor of the decorating room. Luckily, there were no injuries.

The word spread quickly throughout the city as fans of the bakery reached out on Twitter, asking if everyone was safe. McArthur's Bakery Cafe also caught wind of what happened, and they didn't hesitate to offer an invitation for The Sweet Divine to bake their sweets at their Delmar location.

"The St. Louis food community has a friendly competitiveness to it, but we all help each other be successful and always support one another," said Scott Rinaberger, owner of McArthur's Bakery Cafe. "When I heard about the fire, my immediate thought was about what we could do to help them fulfill their orders and keep their business operating. Our Delmar location is a perfect temporary location as it is mostly equipped, and The Sweet Divine can have complete access to bake without impacting our operations."

The owners of The Sweet Divine, Jenna and Jason Siebert, accepted McArthur's invitation and will be baking at their Delmar location while they are remodeling. To help make up for the loss of sales generated from their retail space, McArthur's will also begin carrying some of The Sweet Divine's cupcakes at each of their four locations.

"We cannot begin to thank McArthur's Bakery Cafe enough for the help, support, and love that they have given us," Jenna Siebert said. "Their support and friendship has helped us and our team gain strength and positivity during this tough time, and we are forever grateful."

The Seiberts are expecting the gut rehab to last several months, but they won't let the disaster slow them down.

"We were told that it would be a minimum of four to six months," Siebert said. "We will be rebuilding in our same location at 1801 S. 9th St., although we were pursuing a second location in Webster Groves before the fire happened. We moved to Soulard four years ago, and we're going to rebuild our shop and make it better than before."

The Sweet Divine will be using their food truck to satisfy their customers' requests. The truck will be at different locations through the week for lunch services and private rentals, and it will be parked in front of the Soulard shop on Friday afternoons and Saturdays until the rehab is complete.

"We began as a food truck and will lean heavily on that very foundation as we rebuild," Siebert said.

For more information about The Sweet Divine, please visit them online at http://www.thesweetdivine.com. You can also keep up-to-date with their progress and whereabouts by following them on Twitter at @TheSweetDivine.

For more information about McArthur's Bakery Cafe, please call (314) 894-0900 or visit http://www.mcarthurs.com.

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