01907 Spring 2021

SPRING 2021 | 23
Chip off the old bakery
BY GAYLA CAWLEY
Deb Newman stands in her new
restaurant, The Baker's Daughter
Diner, on Humphrey Street in
Swampscott.
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK
For many in Swampscott, the
Newman name immediately
conjures up images of a
longtime staple in the
community, Newman's Bakery, which
closed its doors this past September.
At the time of its closing, siblings
Bernard and Jessica Newman were
operating the bakery, but it was their
parents, Joe and Bertha Newman, who
started the family business in 1966.
Seeking retirement, Bernard and
Jessica decided it was finally time to close
the long-running bakery last year, but
another sibling, Deb Newman has been
working to keep the family legacy alive.
Two months after Newman's Bakery
closed, Deb Newman opened up a food
establishment of her own, aptly named
The Baker's Daughter Diner. Her sister,
Jessica, is even involved, working in
customer service at the front counter.
However, while Newman learned the
trade from growing up, and also working,
in her parents' bakery, which they bought
when she was only 10 years old, she is
quick to differentiate between the two
establishments.
"My place is not Newman's Bakery,
the second," she said. "It's different."
Along with operating in an entirely
different location on Humphrey Street,
Deb runs a diner rather than a bakery,
and one that also has a much different
type of menu.
The Baker's Daughter, located at 646
Humphrey St. in Humphrey Plaza, is a
meatless diner, borne out of Newman's
desire to provide great-tasting vegetarian
food, unlike the bland options the selfprofessed
finicky eater has had to deal
with in the past.
"The reason I wanted to open up a
meatless diner and bakery was because
I'm a big animal advocate," said
Newman. "I wanted people to see you
could eat yummy food and it doesn't
have to have meat in it. I have to say the
response has been great, even from meat
eaters."
BAKERY, page 24