Passion to Profit: Patti Hollenberg of Chess Piece Pâtisserie
FREDERICTON – Going into its fourth year of business, Chess Piece Pâtisserie has become a favourite of both locals and visitors alike for its Parisian charm and decadent desserts.
Nestled into a cozy space on Queen Street in downtown Fredericton, the pâtisserie was founded by husband and wife team Patti and Eric Hollenberg when they decided to move East to be closer to Patti’s hometown of Miramichi.
We caught up with Patti in her element at the pâtisserie to talk about how she turned her passion for baking into a business.
What’s your background? What were you doing before this?
I started cooking a little bit later in life. I wanted to go to cooking school out of high school but I didn’t think there was a career in it per se. I went into a secretarial course instead and always kind of assumed that I was going to live in New Brunswick, primarily Miramichi, which is where I’m from originally … I ended up developing early onset carpal tunnel syndrome so I can’t sit at an office desk for eight hours a day anymore just using computers. I had the opportunity to go back to school at that point in time. I always liked to bake, I always liked to cook. I was able to get some financial assistance, went to Holland College and did the two-year culinary arts program and one-year baking program back-to-back and then lived in PEI for four years … I moved out West. I lived in Calgary for two years and then Regina.
I worked at restaurants and I ended up getting a job at a hotel, met my future boss there and he ended up opening a pastry shop. He left to open up his own thing and a few years later, I joined him. I’ve worked in pretty much every facet of cooking from restaurants to hotels to pastry shops. I’ve always stuck on the sweet side.
We always wanted to run our own business, we always wanted to own our own spot. Where could we move that would make sense? What city doesn’t have what we wanted to open? In Fredericton, there wasn’t anything like that here. That’s when we started putting the plan into place. The rest is history.
Were you always interested in making desserts? Has that always been a passion for you?
Pretty much. The very first toy that I could ever remember getting of real significance was the Easy Bake Oven. I almost gave my grandfather diabetes, I swear, that one day because I’m sure he must have eaten about eight or nine of those little cakes. The sweet side of things was always a draw.
Why did you choose a pastry shop in particular? What about this business appeals to you?
It’s the hours, honestly. When I worked in a bread shop, I was starting at like 3 o’clock in the morning. Hours are not famously good. You work when people want to eat. If you’re a line cook, you’re primarily working at night. If you’re a baker, people are coming in for bread at 8 o’clock in the morning. [The patisserie] is a pretty nice work schedule.
What was your inspiration for this place?
Serving wise, I wanted it to be like a sit down dessert-forward Parisian style cafe, much like you would see in Montreal, like Première Moisson. The pastry shop I worked at was called Le Macaron in Regina so I wanted that sophistication of individual desserts. Usually, pastry shops are known for being frou-frou, really girly because it’s dessert, it’s sugar. I wanted everybody to feel comfortable in here. Because of where we were located, I didn’t want guys coming in or office workers coming in here and feeling like pink was being thrown at them so we tried to stylize the place so that it would be a little bit gender neutral, keeping certain blingy elements to it but making it a little more rustic.
What makes Chess Piece unique?
There are certain things that are your anchor points. There are certain selling items that you need to keep. I think that our dessert caramel, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that presented anywhere, that was a new dessert we had. There are certain things you know you’re never going to get rid of, mille-feuille, lemon tart, that’s never going to go anywhere. Those key things we’ll never get rid of. Obviously, we’ll always sell macarons. I think we would probably get breaks through the window if we ever got rid of the salted caramel macs.
What do you feel has been your greatest accomplishment to date?
Keeping this place open! Anybody who watched the news or is even remotely abreast of current events in New Brunswick, our economy has always struggled. So the fact that we can have a business that is still chugging along – we’re going into our fourth year now – it’s pretty lucky.
Would you consider expanding in the future?
I’d love to. Obviously, I think the focus would probably be towards a second location but we would have to do what makes sense for the business. I would love to have a patio. That would be a growth. We’ll see. Who knows.
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This interview has been edited for length.