Filipino-Canadian Bakery Moves From Market To Permanent Halifax Home
HALIFAX – For almost three years, Mary Grace Firmeza and Kriselda Alvarez have spent their nights and weekends baking in a borrowed kitchen.
The two are the team behind Xena’s Bread and Butter. They’re best known for their booth at the Alderney Landing Farmers’ Market, where they sell Filipino-inspired sweets. Now, they are taking their budding business to the next stage. In November, they will open a brick-and-mortar location in downtown Halifax.
If you’ve been to the Alderney market lately you will probably recognize Firmeza and Alvarez. But you might not know that both have full-time jobs, or the grueling schedule they keep that lets them serve market customers each weekend.
After a long week working as homecare workers, the pair leave work around 7 p.m. and grab a quick shower at home. By 9 p.m., they’re at a friend’s commercial kitchen he lets them use after hours.
They bake through the night, sometimes until 7 in the morning, before heading to the Saturday morning Alderney market to sell their sweets.
“And then, from the time that we finish the market, that’s the time we go home and then nobody can talk to us because we’re sleeping,” Firmeza says with a laugh.
She and Alvarez have kept up this routine for years, despite the pandemic and their demanding full-time jobs. But now, after close to three years of putting in the work, the pair are on the verge of opening their brick-and-mortar café and bakery.
Xena’s Bread And Butter Café (named after their cat, whom they rescued off the streets of Montreal) is the latest step in a years-long journey Firmeza and Alvarez started years ago with a few homemade snacks.
Firmeza and Alvarez started baking their Filipino-inspired treats mostly to satisfy cravings for themselves and their friends and family.
But what started mostly as a hobby quickly turned into a side hustle as more and more people started placing orders.
“Luckily [people] loved the foods we were sharing. So, one day, we decided we could probably just bake this and sell it for some money,” Firmeza explains.
Eventually, the pair snagged a booth at the farmers market where their baking caught on. Things went so well that, earlier this year, they began looking for a permanent location.
Firmeza and Alvarex call Xena’s Bread And Butter a “2D café.”
Alvarez explains that the strikingly decorated building takes its inspiration from her and Firmeza’s Filipino-Canadian experience, with shoutouts to landmarks and tourist attractions from both countries.
“We know there are lots of cafés and bakeries already so we knew we needed something different,
especially for the younger Instagram generation,” Alvarez says.
She says customers can expect all of the same goodies at the physical location that they’re used to from the farmer’s market stand. The new location just allows her and Firmeza to do more, and not have to work through the night in a borrowed kitchen.
“There was a time that [I thought], ‘oh my God, we have a business already,” Firmea says. “We never thought [it would happen] because we’re from the healthcare field [because] you’re tired from taking good care of other people. We get tired physically but the happiness that brings us with the baking pushes us more,” Firmeza says.
Although the pair are beyond excited to open Xena’s Bread And Butter, Firmeza says she is considering going back to her healthcare job once the café is up and running.
“Our patients are the ones who encouraged us to push through; they know everything about the business,” Firmeza says. “They gave us advice, and strength, and courage.”
She says once you’ve been in healthcare it’s hard to leave the business because helping people is so rewarding.
“It’s really like a priceless moment that you get to help someone,” she says.
Trevor Nichols is Huddle’s editor, based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].