Manna Bakery is a Palestinian and Levantine-inspired bakery in Philadelphia, founded by owner and executive chef Saif Manna.

Saif’s earliest memories of food are rooted in family kitchens. Growing up, weekends centered around shared meals, with pancakes and omelets made by his father and long visits to Jordan, where he watched both of his grandmothers cook in their own distinct ways. From them, he learned that food could be generous and precise, deeply personal and meant to be shared.

At eight years old, Saif made tomato sauce for his younger brother and realized, for the first time, that he could create something for someone else. By fifteen, he was cooking meals for his family, reading through his grandmother’s recipe book, and beginning to develop recipes of his own.

Saif moved from Texas to Philadelphia in 2019 to attend Temple University and play tennis. While there, he started baking cookies for his girlfriend, now his wife, Stefaniya. With her encouragement, he began selling them to fellow students. Word spread quickly, and what started as a few cookies grew into farmers market pop-ups, an evolving menu, and a devoted following across the city.

As Manna grew, Saif began looking more deeply at the flavors and dishes of his Palestinian family, translating them through his own approach to pastry. The menu developed into a collection of sweet and savory bakes inspired by tradition, personal memory, seasonal ingredients, and the life he was building in Philadelphia.

Today, the bakery continues the work that began in Saif’s family kitchens: preserving stories, feeding people generously, and creating food with meaning. Some recipes stay close to tradition. Others take a new shape. Each one begins with an understanding of where it came from.