Macaron Bar: Sophisticated Sweets

French Macaron shops have been popping up in cities all over the country, from New York and Washington, D.C. to Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco… and now Cincinnati.

Patrick Moloughney and Nathan Sivitz are opening Macaron Bar to put Cincinnati on the leading edge of this tasty trend. “We will focus entirely on French macarons, while also offering pour over coffee from Deeper Roots and tea from Essencia Tea House,” explains Sivitz. “Our macarons will come in a wide variety of flavors, including dark chocolate, pistachio, matcha green tea, salted caramel, pumpkin, hazelnut praline and many more.”

More than just bringing a new Tri-State treat for your taste buds, the Macaron Bar is giving back to the Cincinnati community. Both Moloughney and Sivitz are from Cincinnati. However, they went on their own adventures before they decided to return home.

Moloughney has a B.A. from the George Washington University and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University. He was Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati for 10 years where he led the expansion of Mr. Clean Car Wash, P&G’s first foray into retail services.

Sivitz earned a B.S. from Xavier University. He says he has a passion for baking and is well-versed in the pastry arts. He’s even studied pastry with a focus on macarons and the Gourmandise School in Santa Monica, California. He’s also studied privately at several of the finest macaron shops in New York and Los Angeles.

“The ‘pièce de résistance’ of his training was a macarons master class at Ecole Lenôtre in Paris, France,” he adds.

The duo moved to Los Angeles a few years ago, where they solidified plans to open Macaron Bar. “We missed Cincinnati and all the energy and excitement happening in Over the Rhine so we decided to move back and be a part of it,” he says. “We love OTR, and Main Street specifically, and are delighted to be investing here.”

Sivitz says there are three primary goals behind Macaron Bar: Providing customers with a sophisticated, sweet indulgent experience from store to home, fostering economic and social development in the communities in which they reside and to make money while having fun.

Since giving back to the community they come from is such a big deal for Sivitz and Moloughney, supporting the area is a key part of Maccaron Bar’s mission statement. “We’ve been very active in the Cincinnati non-profit community for the past decade,” says Sivitz. “Macaron Bar is committed to setting side between three and five percent of all revenue generated for local non-profits, with a special focus on serving Over the Rhine and Downtown Cincinnati.”

Their core non-profit partners include GLSEN Greater Cincinnati, Freestore Foodbank and Community Share of Greater Cincinnati. Other non-profits they’ll help support include Bethany House Services, Young Professionals Choral Collective and Portrait of a Soul.

Despite that Macaron Bar has yet to open, Sivitz hopes the location in Over the Rhine will serve as the flagship store and central kitchen. In addition, they’re expecting to open a kiosk in Kenwood Towne Center in early 2015 as well as additional brick and mortar retail-only locations in the next two years.

Sivitz says that Macaron Bar will be open by the end of the month, hopefully right before Thanksgiving. Macaron Bar is located at 1206 Main Street, next to Park and Vine streets.

To learn more, visit www.macaron-bar.com or “like” them on Facebook.