In 1993 the husband and wife team of Linda Haynes and Martin Connell founded ACE Bakery hoping to get Torontonians as excited about artisan bread as they were. It worked, and the famous ACE baguette (made of natural ingredients with no preservatives) and its otherwise-loafed cousins can be found all over Canada and parts of the U.S. In 2010 the couple moved on to pursue other ventures and ACE was sold to George Weston Foods. But, to mark ACE’s entry into its third decade, the company has asked Haynes to come back and lead a special initiative, ACE Bakery’s Artisan Incubator.
ACE is seeking 20 artisan food makers from across Canada who are looking to grow their businesses. A panel of “tastemakers” from all over the dominion, led by Anita Stewart, will vet out the applications and offer expert advice to the selected few and help them introduce their products to the nation.
I met Haynes at the café at ACE’s North York HQ to shoot the video below and find out more about the Artisan Incubator.
Can’t see the video? Click here.
Malcolm Jolley is a founding editor of Good Food Revolution and Executive Director of Good Food Media, the not-for-profit corporation which publishes it. Follow him at twitter.com/malcolmjolley
