Rising to the occasion: Sandy Beach Bakery offers tasty treats

Karen Carr Keefe

Senior Contributing Writer

A new venture in Sandy Beach has people lining up on Saturdays for locally sourced baked goods.

Owner Sam Malriat of Sandy Beach Farm Store & Bakery has a farming and baking background that he is putting to good use. His experience is a combination that has produced delicious results, customers have told Malriat.

The bakery offers classic European baked goods and products from local farms. Savory staples include baguettes, classic croissants, country loaf and white and whole wheat sandwich loaves. The store is always expanding its offerings, which also include sourdough bread, Danish, and olive rolls. The business also has a farm in the vicinity.

“We’re trying really hard to rotate through seasonal versions of all those things. So, for the Danish, specifically, right now we have a sweet cream Danish and cherry. In the spring, we’ll do some strawberries and things like that,” Malriat said.

Sandy Beach Farm Store & Bakery also carries coffee from a local business, the Grand Island Coffee Company.

Sam Malriat, owner of Sandy Beach Farm Store & Bakery, stands at the counter in his store at 3432 Wallace Drive, Grand Island. (Photo by Karen Carr Keefe)

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The store is open Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 3432 Wallace Drive, Grand Island.

The first thing you notice upon walking in is a delicious fragrance of fresh-baked bread. The second thing is a cozy atmosphere, right in the middle of a friendly neighborhood.

When Malriat and his wife, Meredith Stone, moved to Sandy Beach two years ago, an idea kept cropping up that he ultimately couldn’t ignore.

It was the idea of a neighborhood bakery that served the community and united local farmers and retail.

Walking around that neighborhood, he saw that the left side of the building was for rent – for months.

“Separately, my wife grew up going to this Irish dance school right next door (McCarthy School of Irish Dance),” Malriat said. His wife knew owner Beth McCarthy very well.

Inquiries were made about the space, and prior tenants, one of which – a café – had been well-received.

“As I kept walking by, and considering that it would be nice if something was here for the community, I started to do some more research,” Malriat said. “That’s when I reached out to a very good college friend of mine who had opened kind of a farm store – and by that I mean something that highlights products from local farmers. She had done that in Perry, New York. And I said, ‘Talk me out of this.’ ”

“I did have it in mind because I come from an agricultural background.”

Malriat spent about 12 years as a farmer in three states – Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York. “So, that was always very important to me, that we find a way to support farmers directly, instead of doing it through a bunch of different brokers.”

His friend suggested a pop-up stand for the baked goods, to gauge customer interest. Working from a home oven, Malriat produced croissants and baguettes,. The reaction was positive.

“People were super supportive.” They were mostly from the Sandy Beach neighborhood, he said. “They would come every week, and we would be close to selling out a lot of weeks.

The pop-up venue went on for a few months.

“Then I thought, ‘OK, if this is the response we’re getting, we’ll give it a shot.’ ”

The lease was signed in October 2025. As a result, the venue became the brick-and-mortar store that it is now.

The day’s offerings of a variety of classic European baked goods at Sandy Beach Farm Store & Bakery, 3432 Wallace Drive. (Submitted photo)

Classic pastries straight out of the oven at Sandy Beach Farm Store & Bakery, 3432 Wallace Drive. (Submitted photo)

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Besides the neighborhood customers, others come from the South End, the perimeter of the Island, and even from Niagara Falls.

Plans are underway to expand into cooperation with local growers and food producers.

Malriat spent four years as an overnight baker at Atwater’s, a production bakery near Baltimore.

“I’m taking a lot of the same things that Ned Atwater used in his shop, which is a local chain of about four different stores,” he said.

“The people who would walk into his supply room or his office were farmers – to drop off the flour, to drop off meat, eggs – and I thought that was really cool in the way that supported farmers. I’m trying to get closer to that. It’s a hard thing to do because farmers don’t have the same logistics as suppliers do. The wholesalers will have the trucks; they can deliver.”

Malriat said that, although working with local farmers is harder, he’s trying to make those connections to achieve his goal.

“And I have to say, Thompson Farms has been here a long time, doing something just like this, supporting local businesses – and I love that. I think we can both do things like that – there’s always room,” he said.

Another business he praises and plans to work with is the Red Bread Shed, which carries Sourdough by Amanda at 3396 Wallace Drive.

Malriat explained his business plan: “We’re doing this slowly and gradually because I just wanted to build this in a sustainable way and make sure there’s enough demand for things before I really go all out.

“I have really good memories as a kid going to a bakery after church. So, I’d like to open Sundays as well, as soon as possible. And I hope we can create some of those same memories for kids and parents. Going to a small bakery is just something different, special.”

Malriat, 36, also works full time at an agricultural nonprofit. His wife helps with the baking. They have two daughters: Rose is 3 and Nora is 1.

He starts the baking prep very early on Friday mornings, finishing around 9 a.m. “I continue all that prep work at 5 p.m., and then I go all the way through the night.”

Malriat expressed appreciation for the Grand Island community as a place to live and work.

“I do really want to highlight how important it is that we do something for the community here, because I think that is a big reason I started this,” he said. “They’ve been so supportive and kind to us. It was a very vulnerable thing to open a little stand like that, and everybody came out every week. That’s a really important thing to me. It’s a big motivation for signing a lease here. These are really good people.”

The store’s website is https://www.sandybeachfarmstore.com/. Sandy Beach Farm Store & Bakery is on, Facebook too. Email sandybeachfsb@gmail.com, call or text to 716-291-3910.