Business & Tech

Mara's Café and Bakery Coming to Fanwood Crossing

Fanwoodians will soon welcome Mara's Café and Bakery in the vacant retail space below Fanwood crossing.



Marci and Mark Semel of Fanwood will be opening Mara’s Café and Bakery — the first business in the vacant retail space on the street level of Fanwood Crossing.

Semel said they are very excited to be opening the space and expect it to be open sometime in March. 

“We are very excited about the location, the town and the franchisees,” said Ian Magley, President and CEO of Mara’s.

Currently a Mara’s Bakery exists in Morristown and a Mara’s Café is located in Denville.

This is the first venture of its kind for Mark and Marci, Mark works on Wall Street and Marci has been in the hospitality business for 26 years.

“There’s a lot of firsts with this,” Marci Semel said. “There are a lot of learning curves.”

For Mara’s, this is the first location they will be franchising out and for the Borough of Fanwood it is the first business opening up in the Fanwood crossing.

Semel said everyone is working hard to bring it together.

Mara’s Café and Bakery will entirely face the train station and make use of the concrete patio at the crossing. 

Semel said if possible they will use the patio all year long, but it will definitely be open for use in the summer months.

Mara’s sells fresh coffee by the pound and imports many of their ingredients from Italy.

Semel added that they will also be looking to bring in products from other local businesses.

Some of the specialties that will be featured at Mara’s include, cheesecakes, pies, peanut butter cake, cupcakes, seasonal specialties such as eggnog and much more.

For breakfast, the Café and Bakery will feature items such as bagels and croissants. 

According to Semel, Mara’s Café and Bakery will play music, but not have any televisions so that families can visit to sit and actually talk.

Mara’s will be open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

For more on what Mara's has to offer, visit their website.

Check back with scotchplains.patch.com for information on when Mara’s Café and Bakery officially starts construction at Fanwood Crossing.

The business is using all local general contractors and Semel added that she and her husband are trying to keep it as local as possible.

Once things are moving with construction, Semel plans to set up fun events at the Café and Bakery and hopes to partner with a lot of people in town.


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