Vernon pastry chefs lure in long lineups for fresh baked treats
A farm-to-table bakery was the centre of attention at a local Peachland market a few days ago where a long lineup of customers could be seen.
Pastry chef and co-owner of A Sweet Romance bakery Tristan Shah said no matter how many cookies he and his partner make, it’s never enough for the Sunday Peachland market at Heritage Park.
“We keep making as many as we can and sell out in an hour,” he said. “At the last market there was the longest lineup I’ve ever seen.”
It took a couple of years for their bakery business to take off, but Shah said the past year has been “crazy busy” for him and his wife and co-owner Alana Lloyd. He credits the fresh, seasonal Okanagan ingredients they source and build their treat menu around.
“We’ll only use local produce except for tropical fruits we can’t grow here,” he said. “We believe everything is better in our backyard. The farmers dictate what we make, we build our flavours around what’s in season.”
The pair are both trained pastry chefs who met in college in Winnipeg. In 2013 they moved to Kelowna where Lloyd is originally from. On a 2017 trip to Italy, they decided to embark on the bakery business venture together. They started selling baked treats at farmers' markets while doing catering jobs on the side, and connecting with local farmers and suppliers.
“We started building our reputation and handing out cheesecake samples,” Shah said. “It was a slow start for the first couple of years but over time word of mouth was our biggest friend.”
Shah and Lloyd recently moved to Vernon where the commercial kitchen they have space in is located. They don’t have a brick and mortar outlet, which by market rules, allows them to continue operating out of farmers' markets.
“It keeps it more authentic, we both really like the markets,” Shah said.
They spend most of their time planning, shopping and prepping for the Kelowna Farmers' and Crafters' Market on Dilworth Drive on Saturdays and the Peachland Farmers' and Crafters' Market in Heritage Park on Sundays.
Fan favourites are cheesecake, almond croissants, French macarons and cookies.
“We switch our cheesecake flavours every week, they’ve always been popular,” Shah said. “The macarons have really taken off. A lot of the cookies are from Alana’s mom’s or grandma’s recipes, altered to use high quality chocolate and peanut butter, organic flour, pink Himalayan salt and organic cane sugar.”
READ MORE: Cherry acreage continues to climb as apples decline in the Okanagan
To ensure the freshest products, Shah said the couple works throughout the night before a market.
“You can tell if a baked treat wasn’t made that day,” he said. “We open our containers and there are rich aromas of double chocolate and peanut butter coming out.”
READ MORE: My Big Fat Greek food truck serving up authentic food in Okanagan
The couple chose the name A Sweet Romance for the business in memory of falling in love with each other at chef school.
Go here for more information on A Sweet Romance bakery.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.
