“They don’t make them like they used to,” goes the old saying. Luckily at Bonjour Bakery on 99 Street, they make it exactly like it used to be. Yvan Chartrand bought Tree Stone Bakery in 2009, and he and his wife decided to make bread the old fashioned way – the way bakers did it in France hundreds of years ago. “To me, that’s the only bread worth making,” he says. “When you work so many hours a day, if you don’t make a good product, then there’s not much pride to be had.”
Yvan has since changed the name to Bonjour Bakery and says his product is different from other bakeries because there are no additives or preservatives in his breads. Small bakeries have had trouble competing with the industrial bread industry, but Yvan says that has changed as people started putting a focus on good health and flavour. “Now people are willing to pay a little bit more for better quality. They realize that price is important but so is your health.”