Wild-yeast bread and baked treats are now available for walk-in customers at 69 Main Street in Niverville. The new Forgotten Flavours storefront first opened its doors to the public on February 25.
Since starting the home-based microbakery in 2022, this local business has taken a detour through Winnipeg, opening a storefront on Corydon Avenue before opening the doors in Niverville.
Chris and Maria Holbrow moved into 69 Main back in 2023, with plans to renovate the space into a bakery and café as soon as possible. However, the 60-year-old former post office required major structural improvements. They started by outfitting it with the kitchen they required in order to ramp up production, positioning them well for future growth.
The Corydon location has opened to rave reviews, and all of its product are made right here in Niverville. In the process, the business has managed to grow their staff.
And the day has finally come to open the doors in Niverville and invite the community to see what they’ve been cooking up.
“There were a number of delays for us at our Niverville location,” says Chris. “The day-to-day demands from our business were what set us back the furthest. We know our customer base in Niverville has seen what we’ve done out there, seeing what we’re making and selling and at the farmer’s markets… and you know, it’s not quite been geared at them. But now it will be. Now it’s time.”
The new location features a sales counter with delicious goodies showcased behind a plexiglass screen. The floor-to-ceiling shelves are laden with bread and pasta.
The Holbrows have only made modest additions to the building so far. The storefront is a quaint 400 square feet, and there are still plans to develop the other 900 square feet available to them.
“We have plans to add a few seats inside for waiting customers, along with a small patio space out front of the building come the warmer weather,” says Chris. “So that is something to look forward to. This space will have a wide range of breads, pastries, pastas, cereals, and much, much more. It will be like walking into a European shop, finding products you simply will not find anywhere else.”
For beverages, the plan is to begin offering drip coffee in the near future, with the intent to expand into a full menu of options as they grow and finish the space.
The Holbrows are excited to make good on their promise to open the business to direct sales in Niverville.
“We’ve always been a homegrown bakery, and this is our home,” Chris says. “We always wanted to be even more interactive with our Niverville customers, who have been so good to us, so supportive.”
Customers came out to support the business on its first day, repeatedly buying out the supply of sweet treats.
“I bought their breads when they first opened and it was just one-on-one sales, messaging them with what we wanted to buy,” says local resident Sue Thompson. “It was firstly the samples that won me over. They offered samples at the time and would literally drive them to people’s houses.”
The small-town feel of the business, not to mention the Holbrows’ friendliness, made an immediate impression on Thompson.
But it was the quality of their bread that made her a loyal customer.
“I’m all about fresh baked, homemade, and local,” Thompson says. “I’ve tried to make my own breads at home, but there is something about buying someone else’s homemade… Their wild yeast is such a cool concept. It makes an amazing bread, with structure, that tastes great. For me, my go-to bread is the classic [baton] loaf. I use it to make a chicken parm sandwich. It’s the best thing to do with good bread. The cinnamon buns are amazing. Caramelized onion and wild rice is great too.”
Thompson can’t wait to try many of the new products that have been offered first in Winnipeg, but not yet in Niverville, like the almond croissant and Bounty croissant.
Forgotten Flavours hasn’t announced a grand opening event, allowing time for the team to adjust to increased production volume.
“We first need to settle into this new location,” Chris says. “We are also waiting on some additional pieces of equipment that will expand our product offerings. We do plan on having a grand opening event for both of our locations, but no set date on that.”
In the meantime, what sorts of new products can customers expect?
“We’ve talked about a wild yeast pizza dough, but we haven’t wanted to maybe mention it yet,” says Chris. “But we can mention it now!”
