Address: Reading Terminal Market, 1136 Arch St., Philadelphia, PA 19107

Sweet T’s Bakery & Snack Shop inside of Reading Terminal Market is no ordinary bakery. Known for their famous sweet potato pies, the bakery specializes in sweet potato-based desserts, and they sell out every day, according to owners Tia and Mark El.

“[Sweet potato pie] was a recipe that was passed down from my grandmother,” Tia said. “I started adding my own twist to it and introducing people to graham cracker crust along with the sweet potato pie.”

Sweet T’s sweet potato pies come in 3-inch, 6-inch and 9-inch sizes. Other sweet potato items include cheesecake, pound cake and cupcakes. The bakery is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

As the first Black-owned bakery in Reading Terminal Market, Mark and Tia hope that Sweet T’s will encourage other people who aspire to be a part of the market.

“It gave us a chance to make the market a little bit more diverse,” Mark said. “When you think of Reading Terminal Market, you think of the basics: lunch meat, cheese, vegetables, stuff like that. So we brought a different dessert, besides the normal doughnut or slice of cake, and we wanted to make it a lot more diverse.”

In October 2022, Sweet T’s was featured on an episode of “Somebody Feed Phil,” a Netflix show following Phil Rosenthal as he eats food from around the world. They also just opened a second location in 30th Street Station. Looking ahead, Tia and Mark said they’re excited for what they can bring to the business in the future.

“We still take our truck out to different functions and get invited to a lot of different events,” Tia said. “So we’re always looking forward to something new every day. We got a lot of ideas ahead of us.”