Charlotte Street Bakery at the City Market

[00:00:01] Welcome to St. John Travel, that place where we talk about New Brunswick stuff.

[00:00:08] And because I live in St. John, I particularly like to talk about things that occur here.

[00:00:14] We have the oldest continuous city market in Canada and we have some fantastic businesses

[00:00:22] that are there.

[00:00:23] Today I'm going to interview the co-owners of two of those businesses.

[00:00:30] Get ready. Here it comes.

[00:00:35] I'm here today with Loretta Landry and Maggie Bryson, the owners of Jeremiah's Deli and

[00:00:41] Catering in St. John's Historic City Market.

[00:00:45] Maggie and Loretta, welcome to nd Traveler.

[00:00:48] Thanks for having us.

[00:00:50] And now six years after purchasing the deli, they're expanding and I've opened the Charlotte

[00:00:55] Street Bakery that's located right next to the deli in the market.

[00:01:00] I'd like to begin by asking you to share with my listeners a little about your backgrounds

[00:01:06] and what led you to purchase the deli in 2018.

[00:01:10] Okay, I'll start.

[00:01:14] So I'm Maggie and I started working for Jeremiah's Deli in 2008 and loved it.

[00:01:22] So I stayed, didn't think that was going to happen.

[00:01:24] Thought it was just going to be another passing job, but loved the city market so much.

[00:01:31] And then I met Loretta in 2011.

[00:01:35] She came back to work after being out west for a little bit of time and from there we just

[00:01:42] bonded really well and decided when the opportunity came that we would do it together.

[00:01:47] So what were some of the early challenges that you experienced in purchasing the market?

[00:01:52] I don't think there was a lot of big challenges besides COVID.

[00:01:57] I guess that one was a big one obviously, but as far as buying the business, it was already

[00:02:03] established and the turnover was pretty easy because we basically ran the store anyways

[00:02:11] because we were there.

[00:02:12] I've been here since 1999.

[00:02:15] And yeah, so we just knew the business inside and out.

[00:02:18] So it was a pretty easy switch over.

[00:02:22] Any other challenges that you had, staffing-wise or anything else?

[00:02:27] Oh, staffing is always a challenge.

[00:02:30] We're very fortunate right now with stuff that we have, but you do see a lot of people come

[00:02:35] and go in this kind of industry, but you do find the people who like to stick around and

[00:02:39] like Loretta and I for instance, and yeah, big things happen with small businesses.

[00:02:45] Yeah, staffing like it's really hard to find someone that this type of industry,

[00:02:52] it's hard to find people that want to stay because it's usually one of those jobs

[00:02:56] that they come in and it's kind of just a little spot for you to go before you start

[00:03:01] your career or something like that.

[00:03:03] So we're constantly training people and then they're like, okay, we're going to

[00:03:06] go back to school.

[00:03:07] And so when it comes to stuff like that, that would be one of our probably biggest challenges.

[00:03:13] Well, I've seen a number of faces year after year here in the market.

[00:03:18] So I think you have some that you can rely on day in and day out.

[00:03:23] Yeah, we do.

[00:03:24] We have a core staff that's been with us for a long time and we're super fortunate to

[00:03:30] have them and we try to keep them happy as much as we can.

[00:03:35] Well, the two of you have had six years growing this successful business together as

[00:03:41] co-owners. What strengths do each of you bring to the business and what process do you use

[00:03:47] to make decisions?

[00:03:51] It's hard to answer that one.

[00:03:54] Right now, I can't think of anything.

[00:03:56] I feel like it's just a day by day and the connection that we have is pretty good.

[00:04:02] I truly believe she's the face.

[00:04:05] Like she's the people person because I'm crankier.

[00:04:08] No, she's not.

[00:04:09] No, she says that but she's not.

[00:04:11] It is true.

[00:04:12] But I think that she's really good with customers and she's very good with them.

[00:04:19] She's probably the face they come to see most of the time.

[00:04:23] I think they come to see both of us.

[00:04:25] Loretta's very good with book work, computers, numbers.

[00:04:28] Thank God for her because if it wasn't for her, I doubt there would be a business.

[00:04:32] We do have a really selling our connection that we have as business partners.

[00:04:37] It's almost perfect because if I'm lacking something during the day, she picks it up in

[00:04:44] vice versa.

[00:04:45] Yeah, I agree with that totally.

[00:04:48] So there was a period of time, I think, where you went from just being a sandwich shop,

[00:04:55] so to speak, to expanding more into being a catering type of service.

[00:05:02] What led you to decide to do that?

[00:05:06] We've always done catering at Jeremiah's.

[00:05:08] Graham had always, he's the previous owner, he had done catering.

[00:05:12] But I think that we just kind of made the catering into something that was more suitable for us

[00:05:19] and what we thought would be something that we wanted to serve as more Christmas-like apps

[00:05:26] and stuff like that.

[00:05:29] Like I said, we've always done it.

[00:05:35] There was always catering.

[00:05:36] We just kind of, I feel like we've picked up a lot of corporate catering and stuff like that.

[00:05:43] We don't do a lot of fancy, we call it like a no-frills catering, where we go and drop it off

[00:05:49] and we come and pick up our dishes after and we don't stick around and clean up the plates

[00:05:54] and stuff like that.

[00:05:55] Like the catering portion of our business is huge.

[00:06:00] It's about 40% of our business.

[00:06:02] What led you to open the bakery?

[00:06:05] It was something we'd always kind of talked about like over the past couple years,

[00:06:09] imagine we made our own bread because we would purchase our bread from Sobeys, which great,

[00:06:15] but it'd be nice to do it locally.

[00:06:17] It was hard to find somebody to keep up with what we needed.

[00:06:20] So we were like, imagine we could do it ourselves, but we didn't have the space.

[00:06:23] So when the opportunity came up next door, when there was an empty space,

[00:06:27] we thought, hey, why don't we put a bakery in?

[00:06:30] Why not?

[00:06:31] We've done this fire.

[00:06:32] So the city bakery already had space that had been put there, but then they didn't go

[00:06:39] ahead and move into it.

[00:06:41] No.

[00:06:42] It's sort of like you had a prepared spot waiting for you, just needed to have

[00:06:47] the Loretta and Maggie look to it.

[00:06:52] Yeah, and our touch, our special touch.

[00:06:55] Yeah, with the strategic plan that's coming with the city, we'll be losing a lot of our space

[00:07:02] in our current store at the deli.

[00:07:04] So we also needed to have that extra space next door.

[00:07:09] We were going to just, we were going to grow out of our space that we have.

[00:07:14] So we needed to expand because of all of the food that we're putting out and producing.

[00:07:21] Anyways, this was a good opportunity.

[00:07:23] It was very organic to be able to have the space that was right next door to us.

[00:07:28] So what's some of the challenges that you see ahead?

[00:07:32] Staffing for sure.

[00:07:33] The construction for the summer outside is going to be a challenge.

[00:07:38] It is amazing now when you think of challenges.

[00:07:40] It's only a challenge if you look at it that way.

[00:07:42] Like, you know what I mean?

[00:07:42] We've kind of gone through a lot together here in the market.

[00:07:45] We've dealt with so many people.

[00:07:47] We went through COVID, didn't expect that to happen.

[00:07:50] It's just a matter of how you look at it, I think.

[00:07:52] If you look at it as a challenge or if you're just like, okay,

[00:07:54] just keep going and just do the best with what you can do.

[00:07:59] So thinking of challenges ahead, I don't really look at the challenges.

[00:08:03] I try not to think about the bad.

[00:08:05] I'm just trying to think about the good.

[00:08:08] See what I mean on the cranky one?

[00:08:09] She's like, oh, I'm so, I'm going to look for the good things.

[00:08:11] No, we both are the same way, but it's hard to do.

[00:08:15] I think of challenges.

[00:08:16] I mean, there's challenges every day with everything.

[00:08:18] So you just have to kind of do it.

[00:08:21] Crazy if we dwelled on everything that we came up every day.

[00:08:25] How does the bakery fit into the deli operation from the standpoint of integrating it with the deli now?

[00:08:33] Yeah, so we bake all of our own bread, which we make our sandwiches on in the deli.

[00:08:40] So that's a big one for us.

[00:08:43] That one saves us a lot of money.

[00:08:45] If you got all the smells and all the things that come along

[00:08:49] with baking bread here in the market, so that's one.

[00:08:53] Having the deli over there with the bread too ties it all in because if you're buying bread,

[00:08:58] oh, you need to get some ham to go on that bread or whatever.

[00:09:01] Yeah.

[00:09:01] Oh, how about some cheese and I'll go out a little dessert.

[00:09:06] Go over to everything over there.

[00:09:07] I don't know if that answers your question, but I think that's kind of like what, yeah.

[00:09:11] It just ties it all together and then they can go over to Jeremiah's and get the meat

[00:09:16] that's in the deli case on the bread that's made in the bakery.

[00:09:21] And apparently you have a manager that's managing the bakery part of the operation?

[00:09:28] Not right now.

[00:09:29] We kind of just do it.

[00:09:31] We're kind of just like, we just kind of make sure that everything goes.

[00:09:35] But there are main, we have a main baker, two main bakers back there.

[00:09:39] Three now.

[00:09:41] Three main bakers.

[00:09:42] So they just kind of do their own thing and we just make sure they have everything they need.

[00:09:46] We kind of manage everything.

[00:09:48] We manage what's happening.

[00:09:49] Thank God there's two of us.

[00:09:51] Yeah, it's easy to step back and see things that you're not liking.

[00:09:56] But if you're there and you're managing it, you can always,

[00:09:58] you're there to fix the things that you don't like and we just,

[00:10:01] that's the way we like to operate.

[00:10:03] So how do you balance your personal life with all the demands of running two businesses?

[00:10:09] We don't.

[00:10:12] Don't.

[00:10:13] Well, it's pretty good.

[00:10:14] You know, we do work a lot of hours.

[00:10:16] We work a lot of weekends, but you know, once we get home,

[00:10:19] we pretty much, we just shut our phones off and decompress and come back the next day.

[00:10:28] But yeah, no, she's absolutely right.

[00:10:30] We're fortunate.

[00:10:31] And that's, I think that's one reason why, I know I stayed at the Mercers so long

[00:10:34] is because why is able to have a life outside of it because of the hours?

[00:10:37] Yeah.

[00:10:38] Right.

[00:10:38] I mean, if you'd work closing shift six o'clock would be the latest.

[00:10:42] So we do have evenings and we'll have Sundays.

[00:10:45] If there isn't a cruise ship in, let's hope there isn't.

[00:10:48] We do need to practice taking vacation.

[00:10:51] That's a big one.

[00:10:52] We, we both, you know, we don't take enough vacation or time off, but yeah,

[00:10:56] that I mean, we just opened a bakery and it's very busy.

[00:10:59] So it'll come our time will come.

[00:11:01] This is what we're working towards.

[00:11:02] So you're not planning to establish an additional business right away?

[00:11:07] Negative.

[00:11:08] No, we have, we have three.

[00:11:10] So we're good with the three.

[00:11:12] We have a small one on Water Street.

[00:11:14] It skits ran by somebody else and that's it.

[00:11:18] That's why we wanted the bakery, then we're done expanding.

[00:11:20] Yeah, we're good right now.

[00:11:21] Yeah.

[00:11:22] So how do you see the bakery growing?

[00:11:25] I don't know.

[00:11:25] A lot of people have come looking for wholesale for, for baked goods.

[00:11:28] The only thing that's hard about that is we don't have this space.

[00:11:32] Like I know I said that earlier, we didn't have the space,

[00:11:34] but we are in a tight space because we're in the city market

[00:11:37] and there's only so much, right?

[00:11:39] Yeah.

[00:11:39] We were in a big building on its own.

[00:11:41] We have the equipment and stuff like that, but eventually maybe,

[00:11:46] maybe some wholesale, but maybe we might just decide that we just like it the way it is.

[00:11:51] Yeah, just kind of nice.

[00:11:52] Like easy that way, right?

[00:11:53] No catering.

[00:11:54] Yeah.

[00:11:54] You don't have to worry about that on the weekends.

[00:11:56] It's just word of mouth.

[00:11:58] When you're closed, you're closed.

[00:12:00] Yeah, that's true.

[00:12:01] Word of mouth come in, get your sweets and there you go.

[00:12:04] So what's been one of the most rewarding things about being a business owner?

[00:12:10] I love just not having a boss.

[00:12:12] I really do.

[00:12:14] Except for me because I am her boss.

[00:12:16] Yeah, it is just really nice.

[00:12:20] I mean if not that we do this, but if we were, if we were thinking,

[00:12:23] you know, we, I just, I need a day off.

[00:12:25] Like I'm not coming in tomorrow.

[00:12:27] She'd be like, okay, like, you know, it's really nice that way.

[00:12:29] Yeah, that's true.

[00:12:31] It's really nice being your own boss.

[00:12:33] And it's nice to kind of bring something to the table in the city that is our own.

[00:12:38] And we can kind of, you know, be who we want to be and show what we want to show to

[00:12:43] the city of St. John and Taurus coming in.

[00:12:46] Like this is how we want to do things.

[00:12:48] It's not a big corporation.

[00:12:49] It's not run by somebody else.

[00:12:51] It's just Loretta and I and our staff who are going to like do the job.

[00:12:56] So I always like to end my interview by asking the question,

[00:13:00] what is at least one thing that you like about living in New Brunswick?

[00:13:04] Oh God, I can't name one thing because there is a million things I love about this province.

[00:13:09] New Brunswick is the best.

[00:13:11] All of Canada, all the Maritimes, but New Brunswick, everything.

[00:13:16] The ocean, the trees, the birds, everything.

[00:13:19] And people, sorry, the people are great too.

[00:13:21] The nature's great.

[00:13:23] I love our city specifically because like I've lived other places and I just really love

[00:13:29] that it's so, it's big but it's not too big and it's small but it's not too small.

[00:13:35] It's just perfect.

[00:13:37] Everybody knows everybody.

[00:13:39] Everybody knows your name.

[00:13:41] People hold the door for you.

[00:13:42] People say please and say thank you.

[00:13:45] Well that pretty well describes what we all like about St. John and New Brunswick.

[00:13:52] So Loretta and Maggie, thank you for your time.

[00:13:55] Oh my God, thank you.

[00:13:56] And I hope you have a good day.

[00:13:57] You too.

[00:13:58] Thank you very much.

[00:13:59] Thanks everybody.

[00:14:06] Thank you for taking the time to come and listen to this podcast today.

[00:14:11] It's produced, edited and hosted by me, Mark Brewer.

[00:14:17] And it's commercial free except for the fact you could go to my website and buy me a cup of

[00:14:23] coffee if you care to.

[00:14:25] For now, have a good day.