An airman checks the daily specials at Craven Sweet Treats, a mobile bakery that began operating on Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in March 2025. (Juan King/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — A popular mobile bake shop run by an Air Force spouse is drawing attention to rules that govern home-based businesses on U.S. military bases.
Deanna Craven, owner of Craven Sweet Treats, opened her pink-and-white trailer on March 25 after nine months of preparation, she told Stars and Stripes in a recent interview. Craven’s baked goods, including her signature sourdough cinnamon sugar focaccia, quickly attracted long lines outside Yokota’s post office, near the exchange and commissary.
But after just a few weeks, Craven said, she was told she could no longer operate in that location due to base policies that restrict home-based businesses from competing with established vendors. Her trailer is now limited to operating in residential areas on the east and west sides of Yokota and near the base library.
“It’s been really frustrating,” she said in a video posted to her business’ Facebook page this spring.
“I do know that some of our highest grossing days were in some of the red zones,” she told Stars and Stripes in a July 16 email. “We also didn’t have a chance to get to the Yokota (passenger) terminal before the restrictions were in place to know how things would go there.”
Craven’s experience illustrates the challenges faced by home-based entrepreneurs. While these businesses can be permitted to operate on base, they must follow strict guidelines to avoid competing with official services and to maintain community access to essential goods.
Craven Sweet Treats, a mobile bakery, has been operating on Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo since March 2025. (Juan King/Stars and Stripes)
Blueferry muffins from Craven Sweet Treats, a mobile bakery that began operating on Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in March 2025. (Juan King/Stars and Stripes)
Craven Sweet Treats is one of 29 approved home-based businesses at Yokota, said Capt. Emma Quirk, spokesperson for the 374th Airlift Wing. These businesses range from custom baked goods to personal services, such as hairstyling, but all are governed by location and operational limits.
“They may not directly compete with established base vendors that are integral to ensuring long-term access to essential goods and services for the Yokota community,” Quirk said in a July 14 email. “This sometimes requires location-based permissions for [home-based businesses] to align with this intent.”
In addition, home-based entrepreneurs may not utilize the Military Postal System, Army and Air Force Exchange Service or the Defense Commissary Agency, she said.
The wing’s commander, Col. Richard McElhaney, noted in a July 14 statement to Stars and Stripes that his wife, Carolyn, ran a micro-boutique, selling clothing and jewelry out of their home during a previous tour at Yokota.
McElhaney called home-based entrepreneurs a “a powerful force in making our community a more vibrant place to live.”
“It’s important that we balance competition of all businesses across the base to ensure we don’t cause unintended second and third order effects that leave us with a gap in service options,” he said.
Craven thanked the wing for listening to her concerns, and said she hopes to inspire would-be entrepreneurs.
“I truly am hoping and trying to make a change to show that military spouses can bring so much positivity and bring unique ideas to base with our home-based businesses,” she wrote.
