When news broke in late November that Niverville’s hometown bakery had opened their first retail storefront in Winnipeg, some locals may have been inclined to worry. After all, the greatly anticipated promise of a bakery storefront and café at 69 Main Street in Niverville has yet to materialize.
But Chris and Maria Holbrow of Forgotten Flavours say they haven’t forgotten. Within weeks, they hope, it’ll be Niverville’s time to shine.
In the meantime, a small storefront along Corydon Avenue’s upscale business sector, once known as Pennyloaf Bakery, is showcasing Forgotten Flavours baked goods under Chris’s watchful eye.
For the better part of ten months now, the Holbrows’ wild yeast breads and artisan sweets have been heating up the rear section of 69 Main, pumping out upwards of 800 loaves of bread per week.
The couple has hired three local production workers to work alongside the head baker, Maria. Chris has quit his job in the corporate world to manage the business end of the company.
But as successful as the couple has been in their first two years of business, not everything’s gone as swimmingly. The 60-year-old building they purchased in Niverville earlier this year, once the community’s post office, required major structural improvements. This significantly slowed the couple’s dream of getting the retail outlet and café open by summer.
It was a building they purchased from James Fiebelkorn, the same person who owns Pennyloaf Bakery on Corydon.
Chris says they developed a good relationship with Fiebelkorn from the start. When their own business took off, Fiebelkorn came to the Holbrows for help in saving his own struggling business.
“Maria, being the expert in production and me with my business [acumen], we understand the bakery business very well,” Chris says. “Especially considering the volume we were doing with two people [compared to] the 12 people they had [at Pennyloaf]. Even now, with the few people we have here, we’re able to produce four times what they were doing.”
When Fiebelkorn finally closed Pennyloaf in December 2023, he approached the Holbrows about opening a second location at his store. But the couple was in a time major transition, working hard to complete the expansion into their new space in Niverville.
Opening a second location was the last thing on their minds.
With production in full swing at 69 Main, the couple’s next goal was to build brand awareness in order to grow their market.
To do this, they set up booths at almost every farmers’ market in the area, working seven days per week throughout the summer, over and above their production time in their commercial kitchen.
“At the St. Norbert Market, for example, we were selling about 450 loaves [of bread each Saturday], never mind our pastry and pasta sales,” Chris says.
It was an exhausting endeavour, though, and one they’re glad to be done with. Now, says Chris, it’s time to focus on retail outlets where people will come to them.
Cue the Corydon Avenue location, which Fiebelkorn proposed to them for a second time.
“[James] is a wonderful man and he’s been so supportive of us,” Chris says. “He said to me, ‘Listen, if I’m going to lose money on a space, I might as well lose it while doing a good deed.’”
The team made a deal and the Holbrows opened the doors of their newly leased location on Corydon on November 18.
If their first week in business says anything, the Holbrows’ product will be a great success in this area of the city. On each of their first three days in business, the Forgotten Flavours product sold out within hours.
It’s not like the Niverville location, though, Chris adds. Corydon Avenue won’t have a café or production area. It’s simply a sales depot for products made in Niverville.
Chris has trained three staff to run the Winnipeg location and expects to spend some time there himself. Still, most of his time will be dedicated to completing the storefront and café in his hometown of Niverville.
In the meantime, Forgotten Flavours wild yeast breads can be found at Your Grocery People.
However, it should be said that large grocery chains like Sobey’s and Superstore are not the kind of retail that the Holbrows are after.
“Our product is more of a niche,” says Chris. “It’s for people with moderate to severe digestive issues due to the fact that it’s healthier. But it’s also considered a more premium bread, and you don’t go to the grocery store for premium product.”
The Holbrows are also keenly interested in building face-to-face relationships with their customers, which you can’t do in what Chris calls the “blind consumerism model.”
If the business continues to burgeon the way it has so far, Chris says they are not opposed to opening more satellite shops like the one on Corydon in the future.
“Winnipeg really needs quality bakery [storefronts],” Chris says. “When we go to markets like Scattered Seeds, they are complete sellouts [for us].”
With expansion comes risk, though, and the Holbrows are already planning on how to best mitigate that.
“When you grow quickly, how do you ensure that you don’t lose [product quality], that one thing that makes you special?” Chris asks. “That’s why this space in Niverville becomes more and more relevant, because Maria can maintain quality here.”
Keeping production all in one location is key, he says. The next step will be to hire more people for their Niverville location. Eventually, Chris envisions a bakery kitchen where Maria is not shaping the dough but is actively working out new recipes as the creative genius she is.
“We haven’t seen anything yet,” Chris muses. “What she is capable of will put us on the map.”
In the end, the Holbrows want to reassure their Niverville neighbours and supporters that this community is not being forgotten.
“Niverville has always been our priority,” Chris says. “We’ve had some delays [on the storefront and café], but we’re doing everything we can to make sure we service our community. This is where our roots are. This is where our home is.”
