What’s Next For Chef Rick After 18 Years At The Fredericton Farmers Market
FREDERICTON — When Rick Huskins, or Chef Rick, moved to Fredericton in 2000, the first place he went was the Boyce Farmers Market. He remembers thinking, “I need to be here, I need to find something to sell so I can be there.” After 18 years working at the heart of the market, it was Chef Rick’s last day on July 31st.
For many Frederictonians, it is hard to imagine a Saturday morning without Chef Rick’s breakfasts being served on the raised platform in the middle of the market. In 2003 he started selling pestos and specialty pizzas as a vendor at the market. When the tender came up for the kitchen, and the market manager recommended he apply.
“I applied for it and we won, that would be about 2005, 2006,” said Huskins.
Being from Montreal, Huskins felt comfortable in the big crowds at the market and enjoyed being surrounded by the different smells and foods. Taking up the permanent kitchen at the market helped get the word out about his own cooking.
“You get a lot of exposure, back when everything was normal,” said Huskins. “In 2010, there would be about ten to fifteen thousand people that would go through there every Saturday,”
Huskins said about 40 to 45 percent were regulars that had been coming back for years.
“They would walk up the stage and they wouldn’t even have to order, we’d know what they want,” said Huskins.
What Chef Rick will miss most is seeing customers and vendors every weekend. Many of the people he had met through the market have become his friends. Over the years, he has watched children he met at the market grow up, get licenses, and become adults.
“Vendors become family because you see them every Saturday,” said Huskins. “You’re all in the same boat trying to make a little bit of money, trying to help each other out.”
During the pandemic, the market shut down for a time and opened again to limited capacity. This affected all the vendors, including Chef Rick.
“Some days I lost money,” said Huskins.
To take advantage of the unpopularity of in-person eating, Huskins starting Chef Ricks Meals To-Go. In March he got a physical location on 900 Hanwell Road. Besides housing his own kitchen, he rents space to other vendors.
“All our products here, the vendors that sell stuff are local,” said Huskins. “We try to keep everything all-natural, made by local vendors who wouldn’t have the opportunity to go and sell anywhere else.”
And what’s next for Chef Rick? Right now he is in the process of renovating the kitchen at the Capital Winter Club. He plans to make it a downtown hub where people can enjoy a meal made by a Fredericton favourite.
“We are going to have a breakfast place there on Saturdays … kind of like the market,” said Huskins.
He is also thinking about opening a bakery there, supplying space for local vendors, and hosting large functions like weddings. Depending on construction, Huskin plans to be open by the beginning of the new year.
For now, Chef Rick is enjoying his first free Saturdays in almost two decades.
“The stress level has gone down quite a bit,” said Huskins. “I always worried. It just doesn’t happen, you have to make sure it happens and happens well. Now I just wake up and I’m like, ‘Oh’, so this is what it is like to be stress-free.”
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Rachel Smith is an intern reporter for Huddle. Send him story suggestions: [email protected].