By Antonis

Copyright thenationalherald

FLORIDA – Take a look at the one-of-a-kind Greek bakery that was opened to fill a much-needed gap in the Milton community in Florida post COVID. 5237 Willing Street in Milton is where you’ll find the newly opened store – The Sweet Greek.

Owned and operated by Melissa Glyptis Simpson, this Greek eatery is providing a space where people can experience the authentic flavors and tastes of Greece.

Here, you can expect to find three types of baklava, including pecan, walnut, and chocolate pistachio – made fresh using Simpson’s yiayia Gramate’s 115-year-old recipe, homemade cheesecake, baklava cinnamon rolls, tiramisu, muffins, various cakes, spanakopita, salads, bagels, and more. There’s even a spanakopita-inspired quiche, and baklava flavored lattes!

The Sweet Greek originally opened in the spring of 2023, and due to its success and rapid growth, it had to close temporarily on December 22 of 2024, while Simpson sought a bigger location to better serve their community and have more space to seat customers and bake their goods.

Now, seven months later, on Thursday July 31, the store re-opened in its new location, leaving members of the community thrilled to come and visit.

In an interview with The National Herald, Melissa Glyptis Simpson revealed what the response has been like since they re-opened.
“It’s been phenomenal,” Simpson told TNH. “We’ve had people coming in saying, ‘thank God, now I can get my sweet fix on’ and things like that and you know it’s been really good. Our old customers were ecstatic, and we’ve had so many new ones coming in, and everything’s been very positive.”

The Greek-American business owner revealed what first inspired her to open her Greek bakery.

“Believe it or not, the actual inspiration came from COVID,” Simpson said. “I work a full-time job in commercial real estate, and of course, when COVID-19 hit, everything shut down, and I had my two daughters with me at home. I hadn’t realized how little time I’d spent on teaching them so many of the Greek things that I had learned as a child – as all of my youth I would be with my yiayia and pappou, and we were always in the kitchen or at church doing all things Greek.

“During that time, I decided to teach them how to iron, how to sew.” They started a garden and she said. “I made them gemista using pappou’s recipe, we started baking… I started making them baklava using my yiayia’s recipe, and just little things here and there.”

What began as a pastime and as a way to teach her daughters about their Greek heritage, quickly grew into a passion for Simpson, inspiring her to share those authentic flavors and traditional Greek recipes that had been passed down in her family with the wider community, by opening her own bakery.

“It was really just something that I really loved doing with the girls,” she added.

“Then I realized, there’s really nothing like that, especially where we live, where people can get authentic Greek food.”

Then, came the idea for The Sweet Greek.

Today, Simpson’s daughters, Tabitha (13) and Sadie (12), regularly help in the kitchen, making The Sweet Greek a true family-owned establishment where both Greeks and non-Greeks can come together and experience their authentic flavors and unique recipes.

“My youngest daughter loves being in the kitchen. She loves being in the back and helping us,” Simpson said. She can knock out spanakopita like a champ, and she’s a whiz with phyllo dough. Oh, and koulourakia cookies – nobody can make them or roll them the way she does.”

“My oldest daughter loves being out front with the baristas and doing all of that – she’s become like my coffee wizard.”

Simpson further revealed what her experience has been like working alongside her daughters.

“I think it’s been such a great opportunity to spend time with my girls. “It’s been really rewarding watching them learn how to do these things…and it’s been a huge help for me here, and then also even at home,” she said.
“Sometimes they’ll call me and say, ‘hey mom, we’re getting low on milk at home’ and it’s so funny because they’re watching the business and learning, and I’m making little entrepreneurs out of them.”

When asked what makes The Sweet Greek unlike any other business in Milton, the store’s owner, Simpson, revealed that it was simply “the atmosphere… There’s nothing like this around. It’s warm and inviting – you smell food cooking all the time.”

“We just wanted to create a space where people enjoy being, and when you enter, you can see we have a beautiful wall mural by local artists, custom railings, and an upgraded space that Milton has never seen“ she expressed.

Now still in its early stages, Simpson said she looks forward to welcoming more familiar faces, as well as new faces to her Greek bakery, slowly introducing more Greek items to her menu and seeing it thrive and succeed.

To find out more, visit sweetgreekofmilton.com.