PASTRY CHEF TURNS TALENTS TO FRANCHISE BAKERY ROUTE
Bishwa Pati is most at home when he’s elbow deep in bread dough or carving a locomotive out of chocolate or creating fresh pastries to pair with your coffee. He’s spent the past couple of decades immersed in the pastry trade, working at Edmonton’s Shaw Centre, the Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire and the shortlived Corbeaux Bakehouse. He’s also represented our city and province as a member of Culinary Team Alberta and on tourism delegations, impressing visitors with his chocolate carving skills. (He recently won an award at the Pastry Chef 2016 Showcase for a meticulously crafted chocolate steam engine.)
But even before he shifted from the Sheraton to Corbeaux, Pati had decided it was time to start his own bakery. And so, a few weeks ago, he launched his Cobs Bread shop at 3433 — 22 St. S.W. (403-349-2785) in Marda Loop’s new Garrison Corner, the 15th Cobs in Calgary (there are more than 700 in Australia, New Zealand and Canada).
The tiny bakery’s shelves are filled with up to 40 bready products that Cobs bakes — sourdough loaves, croissants, scones, cinnamon buns — and the baking area is packed with a huge eight-deck, Rotel oven, a double-chamber Panem proofer, a huge tub of levain sourdough starter, dough mixers and separators and sack after sack of flour. It’s top-notch equipment and fine quality ingredients. There’s barely room to move for Pati and his white-clad staff, and out front there’s a buzz of activity.
But why did Pati go the franchise route instead of opening his own bakery?
“It’s safer,” he says. The strength of the Cobs brand is unarguable. Since arriving a few years ago, Calgarians have embraced Cobs’ baked goods. Developing his own space and purchasing all that equipment would have cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars while Cobs can provide it to him at wholesale prices. Although he has to use Cobs’ flour (milled in Lethbridge) and recipes, Pati says they are great to work with. The recipes have been developed for both quality and consistency and Pati is easily able to train his staff, some of whom have little experience.
As for Pati himself, he is learning the ropes of running a business after years in the kitchen. But when he arrives at 6 a.m., he dives into the baking side. “I love the smell of rising bread,” he says. “And I love the feel of the dough, of shaping the bread with my hands.”
There’s only one thing missing — chocolate. Pati smiles when asked about his artistic creations. “They’re not on the menu,” he says. “But maybe once in a while I’ll doing something in my spare time.” Whenever that might be in the long hours of a baker/shop owner.
VILLAGE ICE CREAM EXPANDS
Just around the corner from Cobs, the third iteration of Village Ice Cream has opened at 2406 — 34 Ave. S.W. (403-454-5862). Since opening in 2012 in a small, hidden location at 431 — 10 Ave. S.W., Village has grown to three outlets and a long list of fans for their fresh-churned salted caramel, cardamom and Earl Grey ice creams and sorbets. Each Village outlet churns its own ice cream and carries a menu of 10 standard flavours plus four seasonal varieties with the option of taking some home or enjoying it in a freshmade waffle cone.
PHIL & SEBASTIAN GET INTO FOOD
A few blocks away in Marda Loop, Phil & Sebastian (P& S) has stepped up its culinary game. The local coffee roasters and brewers have developed a new food menu that focuses on breakfast and lunch at the Marda Loop, Mission and Chinook Centre locations. Pastry chef Leslie Morrow has created cakes and pastries — many of which are gluten free — that are baked fresh each day at each location. Chef Tim Greaves, recently of Re: Grub, has put together a list of avocadoand-toast with brined egg ($6), kale Cobb salad ($11) and braised turkey melt ($10) that can be executed at each outlet.
Sebastian Sztabzyb, the Sebastian of Phil & Sebastian, says he’s always wanted their food to be, “tasty and consistent, with a good price and high quality,” more than just something to chow down with your coffee. So a list of sandwiches, salads and soups, along with a hearty line of pastries makes sense.
One other thing helps — Sidewalk Citizen bread for the sandwiches. P&S’s Simmons Building partner provides the coffee shops with fresh bread daily, adding to the cachet of the dishes. Sidewalk also delivers a daily salad and soup, rounding out the P&S menu. At the Simmons Building, P&S shies away from anything beyond Sidewalk pastries; the cafe and restaurant business is handled capably there by Charbar and Sidewalk Citizen.
Next, Sztabzyb is looking at a liquor licence for the Marda Loop shop to help generate evening traffic when coffee sales slow down later in the day. Along with that plan is the continued growth in national and international sales for their growing coffee business.