Sister-Owned Fredericton Bakery Moves To Permanent Location
FREDERICTON – Kelly Richard and her sister, Jill Arbeau, always had a passion for baking and made time for it while working full-time jobs. The two wanted careers as bakers and their dream is now coming true as they open a permanent location.
Since 2018, the two have sold their homemade baked goods through different markets around Fredericton under the name Oh So Sweet.
“We’ve always kind of came back to the idea that we wanted to bake full-time. We wanted to own our own bakery, that’s been a dream for years so we finally decided that it was time to take the leap,” said Richard.
Richard and Arbeau started testing out their desserts at The Cultural Market when it was located at the New Brunswick Provincial Exhibition. As they sold there, they also attended some pop-up markets. When the Northside Creators Market moved into its permanent location in March 2021, the Oh So Sweet sisters set up there for just over a year until they made the move to the Garrison Night Market this summer.
As much as they love baking, they also loved meeting new people every week at the market. Over time, Oh So Sweet gained some returning customers.
This spring, they decided to go forward with their dream of opening a permanent bakery, as they kept coming back to the idea and knew if they did not try it, they would regret it.
“Both of us know how much time it takes for the market, it’s a big investment. Anyone that does the markets, such as a Saturday morning thing, especially when you’re selling food, it’s a process,” she said. “We were thinking all this time that we’re investing, we really wanted to have our own space to have to package up and travel and move the things around, it’s a lot of work and a lot of time.”
At the end of this summer, Richard and Arbeau left their full-time jobs to focus solely on the process of opening their Oh So Sweet bakery.
When they decided to go for it in the spring, they went through Planet Hatch’s Spring Startup Accelerator Program. Richard said the 13-week program helped her and Arbeau break down the process of owning a business. The program made the idea of opening their own bakery less overwhelming.
The unit they are moving into was occupied until the end of September, so construction did not start until early October. The construction process is ongoing and Richard said she hopes to open Oh So Sweet sometime in December.
Once they open the doors, their product lineup will expand into more savoury goods. But, as for now, they can do custom cakes and cookies. Richard said it is an “incredible feeling” seeing the customer’s reaction to the final product they had been working on together.
Oh So Sweet also sells a variety of homemade cupcakes, cookies, fudge, and sweet scones.
Richard kept the batches small because she said it is a lot of work, especially around Christmas time or holidays.
Currently, their baked goods are not sold through third-party locations in Fredericton, but she is hoping that will be something that can happen once they open their bakery location.
“We hope to contact some local businesses and see if they’ll carry some of our product because it’ll be nice to be in different areas,” said Richard.
As construction has started and the countdown till the opening is on, Richard said she is looking forward to having everything in the same spot.
“I miss my customers, I miss them from the market because you have them that they’re still checking in, they’re still saying ‘is there something coming?’ It was so hard to keep under wraps because you didn’t want to announce anything before you knew it was actually going to all work out.”
Jessica Saulnier is an intern for Huddle in Fredericton. Send her feedback or tips: [email protected]