NEW VENTURES

Located in the heart of Sauble Beach, Crust & Crackle uses traditional baking practices, ensuring that every loaf is made with skill, attention to detail and lots of love. Owners Katy and Matt Stroud established the business in October 2020. “Right smack dab in the middle of the pandemic,” says Katy. “This just started as a hobby selling a few loaves to neighbours and some Sauble locals. It quickly grew from 20 loaves a week to 150 loaves a week to suddenly 300-500 loaves a week. In such a short period of time, two-and-a-half years to be precise, we have transformed our home kitchen into a full-on bread bakery, upgrading all of our home appliances to commercial equipment in order to keep up with the demand.”

After completing a Culinary Management program at Georgian College, Katy achieved Red Seal stats, which opened the door for her to start teaching pastry at Georgian College. “While starting my teaching career I also started a Private Chef business called The Denim Chef. It was only natural for me to roll into the bread world. It wasn’t until our son was diagnosed with very serious food allergies that I started to take baking everything from scratch seriously. After a few years of baking for ourselves I was curious to see if anyone would be interested in buying my bread.”

In the summer of 2022 Matt, who is a fully licensed electrician quit his job to help with the family business. “My husband is my baker in training. Leaving his days of crawling in attics and crawl spaces behind, and instead to dig his hands into the world of flour. From deliveries, to shaping loaves and baking he has fully immersed himself into my bread world.”

Using local ingredients and modernized flavours, Crust & Crackle has recreated the basic loaf of bread, and as Katy says, “turned it into your next craving.” Because they are not a brick-and-mortar bakery, they offer a flexible solution for our customers to pick up their orders. “Mainly we sell directly to our customers through our online ordering system. They can then choose one of our pickup locations throughout Grey and Bruce County. Over the past two years we have partnered with eight local complimentary businesses to offer convenient pick-up points for our customers. These locations include Southampton Olive Oil Store, Port Elgin Cheese Haus, Tara General Store, Desboro General Store, Heat’n Eat Meal Co, Birgit’s Bakery, Your Local Meat Shop and The Dandy Lion. Some of these locations plus others stock our bread 1 – 2 times a week for the customer who would rather walk in and purchase a loaf. These locations are Port Elgin Cheese Haus, Tara General Store, Desboro General Store and Sugar Dust Baking. We are excited to continue expanding throughout Grey & Bruce with additional locations.”

“It is so important to us that we know what ingredients go into our food and who has produced it. We are huge advocates for supporting local farmers and producers— most of our diet is supplied from our local farms. As a family that suffers from serious food allergies, we wanted to be able to sell a product that suits most people’s diets. We believe that we have done that. Good quality, simple recipes, and local food should adorn every pantry and fridge. Go ahead and put a little local into your life.”

Located on Highway 6&10 in Chatsworth, 6 & 10 Euro Market is a small family owned business that offers on-site homestyle cooking with a vast selection of top-selling European specialty meats.

Owners Olenka and Oleg Mouzitchka moved to the area in 2022, and decided it needed a European twist. “Previously we ran a small weekend market, which is how we first became involved in the food industry,” says Olenka. “However, after moving and having the opportunity to stay involved and continue to share eastern European foods and products with our community we couldn’t pass on it. We believe in serving our customers as we serve our family and emphasize creating a culture of inclusiveness and belonging where anyone is welcome.”

Specializing in gourmet coffee and sandwiches, 6 & 10 Euro Market also offers an assortment of ready-made foods like homestyle cabbage rolls, perogies, as well as kielbasa, smoked meats and fish. They also stock a variety of pickled and canned preserves jams and caviar and have an impressive selection of European groceries, cheese, bread, baked goods, sweets, candy and ice cream.

“We are a small business,” says Olenka. “Our store is an extension of our culture that we would love to share with the community through our food and other products. We welcome everyone to come whether they’re interested in trying new foods for the first time or not. A large part of culture is integrated into food and we would love to share with anyone who’s interested!”

317080 Hwy 6 & 10, Chatsworth