Homestead Artisan Bakery has become a destination for visitors to downtown Barrie looking to get caffeinated and devour some great treats.
Even with the ongoing popularity the bakery has garnered since owners Cait Patrick and Lise Ravilli opened up their shop at 80 Dunlop St. E. three years ago, like any good business owners, they were always looking at ways to improve what they do.
So, when they were presented with the opportunity to be featured in an episode of Food Network Canada’s Project Bakeover, where renowned pastry chef, master chocolatier and entrepreneur Steve Hodge throws a lifeline to struggling bakery businesses and helps “reinvigorate and inspire” the bakery owners, while designer Tiffany Pratt transforms their spaces into warm and welcoming spaces.
Patrick and Ravalli, who initially started by selling bread at the Barrie Farmers' Market in 2014, have been best friends for 20 years. That move, they say, came during a time in their lives they were simply looking to make some additional income.
“We were both at different stages in our life," says Patrick. "I was on maternity leave and Lise had just graduated teachers college and we decided we wanted to do something part-time. That’s when we started making the bread and selling it at the farmers' market."
They received such fantastic community support, she says, that it eventually allowed them to expand the business in their brick-and-mortar location in downtown Barrie.
“We were super passionate about what we were doing and we loved being one step closer to the community and creating those bonds and relationships, we felt like we really had something," Patrick adds. "It was definitely a risk, but we felt it was the right move and followed our gut.”
Despite the restriction put on restaurants due to the pandemic, Ravilli admits they’ve been “really lucky” and have received a tremendous amount of community support over the last 14 months.
Still, keeping a business thriving during a global pandemic was challenging, so when the show reached out to them to see if they could use some support, the decision to take part was a no-brainer.
“Cait and I have lots of children and are very busy, so the space was always something we felt we could develop a lot more," Ravilli says. "The opportunity to makeover the space was really exciting. Bread is our baby, That’s what we do really well, and we thought it would be an incredible opportunity to have a famous pastry chef come in and take a look at our pastry offerings and weigh in on how we could improve some of those things."
The experience, they admit, was “wild," adding they don’t think they truly realized they needed the help until the show was being filmed.
“When you see the space transformed from what it was, it’s really wonderful. Given our focus is really developing the business and growing it, and making sure our products are amazing… we never would have been able to do this on our own,” says Ravilli “We didn’t know what to expect, but when we saw the space, she (Pratt) definitely did an amazing job understanding what we were looking for and not moving too far from what we are about.”
Giving up control to someone else was definitely nerve-wracking, adds Patrick, who is a self-proclaimed “control freak."
“I was really taken back by what the experience taught us. Letting somebody else take the business we have put our souls into and trust them was a huge thing to do,” she says. “ It was nice to have Steve rip things apart to be honest. He helped us think outside of our current menu offerings creatively… but it was amazing he thought a lot of our products were really fantastic already.
"It was nice to hear someone of his calibre come in and say ‘you are nailing it’.”
Hodge told BarrieToday his experience working and filming at Homestead was one of his favourites to date, adding Barrie reminded him of the Okanagan Valley on the west coast.
“Lise and Cait were a riot and had great personalities,” he says.
Throughout his career, Hodge says he has worked with and seen many different pastry shops, bakeries, chocolatiers. While they all have their unique twists and all run their business differently, in the end, they all pretty much make similar products, which is why it’s so important how things are executed.
“Homestead was a well-oiled machine. It wasn’t that they were doing anything wrong, it was just they were missing out on opportunities. What’s so great about the show (is) when we go in (while) we have an idea of what we are doing it isn’t until we get there, meet the owners, taste the products, see the clientele coming in throughout the day … (that) we are really able to go hands on and figure out the things that are going to make the bakery work,” he says.
“With Homestead, they made a fantastic product. They knew what they were doing and were very passionate.”
Ultimately, Hodge says he was able to see some aspects of the business the pair were missing out on and give them advice on how they could best capitalize on those things.
“It’s difficult… You own a business and put your heart and soul into your products and to have someone come in and say you’re doing this wrong and this right… they took it really well and they were really excited. It was emotional for good reasons and it was fun," he adds.
They also got a great new interior design, he notes.
“What I see with bakeries, they all look the same inside. That’s where Tiff came in and she designed an epic place that no one could compete with as far as the look,” Hodge says. “It’s a unique design, and one of our favourites, where people will be coming to see the inside of it. It’s a design they can capture on social media and can market it that way as well. She was able to make it a place people wanted to be.”
The Homestead Artisan Bakery episode airs Thursday, June 24 at 9 p.m., on Food Network Canada.
