Meet Jo Colagiacomi and Jay Weichun, owners of New Moon Vegan!
New Moon Vegan is a community-centered bakery and café that serves sweet and savory plant-based treats, with a focus on supporting local farms and makers. The bakery is run by married couple Jo and Jay, inspired by the Italian-American pastries of their youth in Staten Island, NY.
New Moon is becoming a well-known destination in the greater Chicago region- while plenty of frequent visitors are vegan or allergic to dairy/eggs, many customers are simply fans of their delightful pastries. In fact, New Moon Vegan was recently selected for the Illinois Office of Tourism’s Illinois Made program, which celebrates the diversity of small businesses across the state, and supports them by encouraging travel to all regions of Illinois.
Jo has always loved baking, since helping make cookies and cakes in her Nana’s kitchen as a child. Jo and Jay worked for over a decade in universities, and when the time came to pivot careers in 2020, they both knew it was time to fulfill Jo’s longtime dream of starting a bakery. Many of the bakery’s components are made in-house- from their house-made seitan and butter to the almond milk in their butter! Come on in and see what seasonal specialties are in their pastry case.
