OEB Breakfast to continue expansion with 20th location
Chef has grown Edmonton Trail eatery into an egg-cellent international hot spot
While studying at culinary schools, not many chefs would have dreamt their passions would lead to cooking breakfasts as their specialty. But Mauro Martina did just that — and he has been very successful.
Martina is the founder and chef of OEB Breakfast. Later this month, the 20th restaurant under that name will open in Victoria.
Born in the Puglia region of southern Italy, he spent the first five years of his life living with his grandparents, as his mother and father had relocated to Germany to seek a better life.
Martina credits his understanding of farm-to-table to spending those early years following his grandmother on her visits to the butcher, fishmonger and greengrocer — and being given treats of a piece of cheese or a juicy fruit.
After joining his parents in Munich and being schooled there, Martina attended culinary school and began his career in baking and pastry.
A small sense of adventure and a bigger sense of the need to progress had him thinking of life in a new country, and a friend suggested Canada. He says he was a little concerned about not being able to speak English, but was told: “They are nice people and there are lots of Italians there — you'll find a way to get on.”
So, in 1993, Martina took advantage of an inter-company transfer to move with Movenpick from Munich to its 18,000-square-foot Toronto flagship restaurant. Being the first member of his family to leave home — and for the first time working in front of customers — must have been a little nerve-racking, but he enjoyed life in Canada.
And although he made a number of excursions back to Europe — to work in London, more schooling in Lyon, France, and as an executive sous chef in Dubai — a recruiting agent in Toronto suggested he head west and settle down for good.
He accepted a position with the Vintage Group and relocated to Calgary in 2006, and was soon chef for the Redwater Grills and Lance Hurtubise's new concepts.
But after three years here he felt the need for ownership. Coming up with a fresh idea to create an uplifting breakfast experience with the very finest of ingredients, he opened his first OEB Breakfast in a small location on Edmonton Trail. It worked so well, with lineups at the door, a second location was opened in 2016 downtown in Fifth Avenue Place — featured in this column showing off the unique egg breakfast booth by Hribar Design Group.
Martina says he was suddenly getting calls from across Canada, and although he wanted to be assured he would not have to lose control or dilute his brand, he looked into franchising OEB.
Today, besides Calgary operations in downtown, Bridgeland, Mission and University District, there are three in Edmonton and others in Toronto, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Kelowna, B.C., and five in the greater Vancouver area. And Victoria will be exposed to good breakfasts at the end of this month in a busy location on Yates Street.
OEB has a corporate restaurant in Scottsdale, Ariz., and he has signed a new partnership in Newport Beach, Calif.
Martina does enjoy control — he says traceability is paramount in his business and he is constantly working to secure the very best of suppliers wherever they may be in Canada.
Eggs must be top grade and he buys the best free-run Omega 3 from Steinbach, Man. OEB cracked more than 5.3 million last year, and with Martina looking at new sites in Calgary, Regina and at Canadian airports, as well as in Texas, Nevada, Southern California and Colorado, chickens are going to be kept busy laying a lot more.
NOTES
Áine Keogh has been welcomed back to the board of directors of the Ireland Alberta Trade Association. A board member while based in Calgary, Keogh has returned to Dublin where she is director and head of sustainability at Grant Thornton, Ireland. A dual Irish-canadian citizen, her academic journey includes a bachelor of arts in environmental science, a bachelor of science in sustainable development in Ireland, and her MBA from the University of Calgary. Keogh's dedication to strengthening the ties between Alberta and Ireland is more relevant than ever, and her presence reinforces the association's commitment to bilateral collaboration and growth.