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NewsThis section will keep you updated on important business news stories in the Windsor-Essex Region, named Best Small City for Investment by FDI Magazine. Rising SuccessWednesday, Mar. 10, 2010
Like the bread they make, neighbourhood bakeries continue to rise in the face of increasing competition from supermarkets, cornerstores and pharmacies selling food. The bakers offer a passion for their trade, a focus on specialty food items, and all the warmth and nourishment of a shop full of aromas and fresh-from-the-oven goodness. They start early, stay late and can't get enough of customers who drop by with orders, smiles, compliments and, sometimes, gifts. Antonino Pinzarrone doesn't drink, but that doesn't stop customers from offering him their favourite vintages. Another offered old railway items, like the lanterns that now adorn the bright and cheery shop. Pinzarrone and his wife, Milena Grzinic, opened their Milena's Bakery, 1447 Erie St. E., about a dozen years ago and then reopened after a devastating fire. They haven't looked back and don't really need to as they build their business with their son Corrado, lately with orders from a nearby restaurant ordering signature burger buns Pinzarrone created from a brioche recipe. "We sell 45 dozen a week," he says, adding he loves the hamburgers. The couple opened the bakery to provide such specialty items. Pinzarrone brings experience from bakeries in Toronto and Italian family expertise. He lets his breads rest for hours before baking, enhancing their taste and texture. There are no preservatives, and the bakery boasts a diversity of customers, including a trained chef and restaurants. "What I make I sell," he says simply. Grzinic adds, "Word of mouth is what we sell." Doug and Barb Romanek opened their Nana's Bakery & Lunch Bar, 2936 Dominion Blvd. at Grand Marais Road West, 13 years ago. The couple specialized in gluten-free and sugar-free items, as well as other products for special diets. Few if any local bakeries were supplying such items, allowing them to fill a niche. Customers come from as far as Detroit, and they pack the small shop for special events, including dessert nights. Despite the recession, people want specialty products, and they're willing to spend and travel to find them. Romanek said his low-fat, low-cal paczkis remain a hit. The shop recently sold 85 dozen of the jelly-filled doughnuts, each with about half the fat and calories of a traditional paczkis. It has helped that large, competitive retailers, like Costco, have kept a lid on prices for staples like wheat and sugar from suppliers, he said. A variety of small bakeries have opened in recent years, including Sweet Time Pastries & Bakery, 1183 Lauzon Rd. Personal experience led Shuvonne Varga, 31, and her husband, Darren, to open their aptly named No More Belly Aching Bakery, 25 Main St. W. in Kingsville, last fall. Varga, who has supermarket bakery experience, can't eat gluten or dairy items. Besides local customers, the shop is supplying stores elsewhere. They are: Lakeside Bakery, Deli and Cafe, 286 Erie St. S., Leamington; No Frills, 835 Queen St., Chatham; and No Frills, 181 Sandwich St. S., Amherstburg. "We're looking at a location in Windsor," she said. A Windsor restaurant is looking at buying a gluten-free pita so that customers on special diets can order its signature menu item. "Our objective is to serve Southwestern Ontario. There's a tremendous need." The shop already draws from all over -- no mean feat for a business with such specialty items in a smaller community market. Still, Varga said, the aim remains to provide healthy items without sacrificing taste. "The greatest satisfaction is children who can buy a cupcake here and bring it to school like anyone would bring a regular cupcake." She especially enjoys customers who bring in suggestions and call in with compliments about being able to enjoy an everyday item like breadsticks that others take for granted. The open-concept design of the shop is deliberate, Varga said, because so many on special diets are concerned about what they eat and want to see for themselves how the food is made and where. The work is exhausting, but rewarding, said Varga, who can still recall making a marble cheesecake when she was nine years old. In Leamington, the 11-year old Lakeside Bakery has added a wine bar for local wines to its existing deli of gourmet food and gift items and its stylish cafe. A favourite is the large Baker's sandwich with luscious layers of scrambled eggs, Black Forest ham and havarti cheese between thick slices of the bakery's multi-grain bread for $5.95. "The cafe is just booming," says owner Danielle Tartaro. The bakery's no slouch either, recently moving 44,000 paczkis in barely six days. The bakery reaches a wholesale market with its artisan breads and items shipped and sold to 50 stores in Michigan, as well as supplying the Sanford and Son Supermarket in Harrow, Foodland in Kingsville and Colasanti's Tropical Gardens in Ruthven. In South Windsor, Chris Brecka continues to build sales since opening Healthy Creations, A Specialty Bakery, 333 Dougall Square, at Dougall Avenue and Cabana Road, in September. "We've got more customers than we anticipated, more than we thought," she said. "There's quite a number who need gluten-free items." She operates the shop with her brother Tim Norek, and the list of items they offer is extensive: from bread crumbs to pizza shells, and from biscottis to specialty cakes. She brings personal experience with a gluten-free diet for her 20-year-old son Derrick and youngest daughter Nichaela, 16. (She has another daughter Alexandra, 18.) Brecka worked out of her home baking specialty items and her customer base grew with new customers in the last three years to the point a standalone shop made sense. A customer sends her items to Saskatchewan. Another ships a sandwich with specialty bread to San Francisco. "It's nice to be able to provide something they appreciate." Article Credit: |
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