The smell of freshly baked goods on a cold winter morning will soon be a familiar scent at Algonquin, thanks to Algonquin graduate, Catherine Beddall.
Beddall, a part-time instructor at the college, is expanding her personal baking business to Algonquin’s campus, where her skill, talent and tasty treats will be showcased and available for purchase.
Currently, a few of her treats and baked goods are available at Savoir Fare. However, Beddall has been planning to open up her own bakery section within the Savoir Fare, and it will be called The Honour Roll.
“I have my own business that I run out of my house, and I also work part-time here,” said Beddall. “We came up with the idea that I could expand here without opening an actual store.”
Beddall plans to set up an ordering system where customers can request custom cakes. Other pastries she will be baking include sugar cookies, gingerbread, layered cakes and so on.
The plan is for The Honour Roll to be located inside Savoir Fare, but run by Beddall. Second year baking and pastry arts students will be able to help out and learn tips and tricks, while working on developing their skills.
Michael Bakogeorge, Beddalls Algonquin liaison and academic chair of the school of hospitality and tourism, is looking forward to the second year students’ participation with The Honour Roll.
“There is a limited opportunity in the Ottawa region for our students to secure these types of field placement opportunities, so what better way than to arrange a business relationship with Catherine’s company, especially since she was looking to expand,” said Bakogeorge.
Madelene Dionne, second year baking and pastry arts student, is excited about the opening of the Honour Roll and the opportunities it will present.
“For the students lucky enough to work with her, they will learn so much and earn invaluable experience,” she said.
Due to the strike, the official opening of The Honour Roll and launch of the website have been pushed back, as well as her work with the students. Late January is the targeted time for everything to officially roll out.
The lack of traffic Savoir Faire saw during the time period was too low to remain open full time, so Beddall is ready to get back where she left off.
“I’m excited to start fresh with a new semester.”