Simon’s Kitchen And Bakery Embraced Challenge Of Opening During Pandemic
FREDERICTON — Challenging, stressful, and wonderful are just a few words Simon Duvall used to describe opening a business in the last year.
His Fredericton restaurant, Simon’s Kitchen and Bakery, opened its doors in September 2020.
“People often ask me what it’s like opening a business during a pandemic,” said owner Simon Duvall. “And well, that’s all that I know.”
The team behind Simon’s is Meaghan Cameron, general manager, and Jess Kobrosly, executive chef. While Kobrosly handles the meats and sauces, Duvall makes the bread and sweets.
But before he was Chef Simon, Duvall was in the military.
[Baking is] an exercise in creation,” said Duvall. “Where what I did in the military was very much the opposite.”
After completing a year-long program at the Culinary Institute of Canada in 2018, he worked as a pastry chef while laying the groundwork for Simon’s Kitchen and Bakery.
Since the bulk of their planning was rolling before 2020 when the pandemic hit, all they could do was adapt.
“There were a lot of things that were out of our control,” said Simon. “The way that the rules and regulations and guidelines kept changing we knew that if we wanted to survive we needed to control how our customers came to us.”
Even though Simon’s has seating, the bulk of customers place orders ahead of time to pick up.
“They’ve really taken to the call ahead aspect of our kitchen,” said Duvall.
At Simon’s Kitchen and Bakery, every day of the week has a focus.
For Tuesdays, Kobrosly came up with Mise en Prep, which combines the French phrase mise en place with meal prep. The product is individually portioned meal preps to-go with classic, vegan and carb-wise options.
These are available to order Sunday to be picked up or delivered on Tuesdays. Honouring his military background, Duvall gives $1 off for military members that order five or more Mise en Preps.
When that was a success, they expanded to family size portions for Fridays.
“What you have is a complete balanced meal, ready to go, in a container,” said Duvall. “All you have to do is pick up and go.”
Wednesday is called Saucy Wednesday. Kobrosly currently has seven different BBQ sauces on rotations. They use Spicy Boy’s hot sauce to make their Blue Balls sauce. Cold-brew from Freddy Bean Roasters also goes into the Disco Stick sauce.
“We try as much as possible to partner with local companies and local products to create something new,” said Duvall.
Thursday is soft pretzel day at Simon’s. It’s also the day they restock their grab-and-go meal fridge. In this fridge, you can usually find classics like sweet and sour chicken, apple crisp, and meatloaf. However, their storefront isn’t the only place you can find Simon’s products.
“There are seven different restaurants, cafes, and diners that we supply with breads, desserts and snacks on a daily or weekly basis,” said Duvall.
As soon as Simon’s liquor license is approved, Duvall looks forward to bringing in local beer, liquors and ciders. Right now, Simon’s walls are showcasing art from Fredericton artists that are up for sale.
“It’s just as exciting for us as it is for the customers,” said Duvall.
Rachel Smith is a summer intern for Huddle. Send her story suggestions: [email protected].