From chocolatier to head baking honcho

I visited the previous location of Canela Vegan Bakery & Café on my first trip to Calgary in 2021. Expectations were high for a vegan bakery to deliver on breakfast, and it did.

Naturally, I invited Canela’s founder and president Veronica Amaya to VEG Networking Canada to get all her insights on running Calgary’s first vegan bakery-cafe. Even this interview took place in the fall of 2021, there’s still a lot we can learn about food service in brick-and-mortar locations.

Justin Manning: Hello everyone, we’re going to start with our land acknowledgement, as always we acknowledge, honour and respect that much of the land we are gathered on is part of traditional unseated territories of many different indigenous peoples of Canada. Welcome to another episode of VEG Networking Canada, where vegan plant-based companies connect and collaborate. We have a special guest today with a mission to promote a plant-based lifestyle through one handmade pastry at a time for all to enjoy.

Starting in a family kitchen, then growing to farmers markets and now a brick and mortar staple in the YYC community. With a background as a food industry operations manager, she is focused on ethical food safety, food production, and good manufacturing practices. She is passionate about supporting women, immigrant and locally owned and operated businesses, bringing a taste of Mexican flavour to her recipes and products, VEG Networking Canada is pleased to welcome owner and founder of Canela, welcome Veronica Amaya!

Veronica Amaya: Hi everyone, nice to meet you.

JM: We’re so happy to have you here. We’re going to jump right into our first question.

Can you tell us a little bit more about your own personal vegan plant-based origin story?

VA: Everything started back in 2013. I had quite a few health issues, and at the beginning of the year, I watched some documentaries, not necessarily plant-based, more into the healthy lifestyle. Then I started to notice that decreasing the consumption of red meat would improve my health. I started with that and then I gave away chicken and in two months I was still eating some fish and dairy and eggs, and it took me two months to become a full vegan after watching some other documentaries about animal farming. So that’s when I said that’s it. I’m not doing this anymore. Obviously, my health improved 100%, so all the issues I had went away, and I am also helping the world to be a better place.

JM: Wow, so 2013 and really only a couple of months for you to make that transition. That’s what we would call an overnight transition, which from the conversations we’ve had here, is actually quite a rarity! It takes a little bit of time for people to transition, but you did it quite quickly in two months. The next question is about entrepreneurship.

Did your entrepreneurial origin story begin at Canela, or did it happen prior?

Tell us about that.

VA: That was prior to Canela. I’m from Mexico, and back in Mexico, I owned a bakery. It wasn’t a vegan bakery, it was just a regular bakery, with my sister, and when I got married, I had to give up the bakery and started to work with my father-in-law’s family business. Then I moved to Canada, and we opened, because my father-in-law has a big chain of tire shops, we opened a car shop in Canada when we first came. That was a big mistake because we didn’t know the culture and the business world in Canada is way different.

So I started looking for a job, which I started at The Chocolate Tree when it was owned by Bernard Callebaut. I learned a lot about the food industry, production, and manufacturing. I was the operations manager, but then everything happened with Bernard with the receivership, so I decided to open my own chocolate shop. It wasn’t vegan, though. I started that back in 2013, actually, December 2013. It lasted five years, and then that’s when I was vegan at the time and thought, okay, I need to create something vegan because there was such a lack of bakeries. Every time I went to a coffee shop, there was no option for me.

So I was frustrated and thinking, why isn’t anybody doing anything? And that’s when Canela was born. I wanted to spread the word about vegan pastries. They don’t need to taste like cardboard. We have amazing products and all kinds of products at Canela that you don’t even realize are vegan. So that was my mission, and now we do wholesale and distribute our products to coffee shops, so vegans don’t have to suffer what I suffered at that time, not finding a pastry for me and another option to go with my coffee.

JM: That’s a really powerful entrepreneur’s origin story. That is quite a common thread whereby somebody notices that they can’t find or get something for themselves, so they just go “hey why not and create it and make it myself?” which is exactly what you did. That is admirable and amazing and especially in the vegan world, so thank you. Canela is Spanish for cinnamon?

VA: Yes, yes.

JM: Okay great, now I’m just thinking about cinnamon buns.

VA: Haha. That’s how it started, it started with cinnamon rolls only, and I had to relate the cinnamon obviously and cinnamon in Spanish is Canela, so there we go.

JM:

So in the vegan bakery world, because that’s the industry that you’re in, what, if any, are some trends that you’re noticing?

VA: Well, what I’ve seen in Calgary at least, the businesses are increasing their vegan offerings, so they’re increasing the demand for vegan products. And the vegan businesses are increasing too. So that is for me, that’s a big step.

The vegan businesses need more support. We want the non-vegan community to be more involved, engaged, and interested in the curiosity of plant-based. It goes deep; we want more vegans in the world. We want more plant-based, so it’s a nice thing that it’s growing in Calgary. I’m sure it’s growing in Vancouver as well and in Toronto, of course, it is bigger than Calgary and Vancouver, I will say. That’s what I’m seeing!

JM: So it sounds like what you’re picking up on is a trend of more plant curious folks who are not vegan or plant-based, they don’t put that label on themselves but they are interested in what is out there that is vegan, plant-based, they’re curious about it and they’re trying it more.

To your point earlier, if you can make a product that nobody can tell the difference, then to your point, that’s the way to really create a shift, which is incredible. You touched on our next question a little bit, which is how you’re starting to wholesale, so maybe tell us more about that and also if there are any other answers you have for this question:

Where is your brand Canela going in the future?

VA: I think in the near future, going to Edmonton and not a very near future, going to other provinces. Coming from the food industry, coming from a big chain of chocolate wholesale distribution, I have the skills to make it happen. To find people that would like to go into a partnership with Canela and open a mini bakery in Vancouver, to opening a bakery in Edmonton and Toronto, that’s how I see it going.

JM: Beautiful, and just as a follow-up to that, and it’s okay if you don’t know, but are you thinking of just keeping everything under Canela or maybe going into franchising?

VA: Of course. Franchising, however, I don’t believe in, because with franchising, you have to pay royalties. I’m more inclined towards a dealership where you don’t pay the royalties but you do sell the products that you are buying from. It kind of goes against what I’m offering and what I believe, charging for royalties, it doesn’t go well with me, so I prefer people to make money of course, and the most important thing is to spread out veganism so it’s more affordable for people.

If I go into franchising, people will have to charge more so they can pay the royalties. If they go into a dealership, that’s different, then they don’t have to increase the retail price. Because veganism doesn’t have to be more expensive, and that’s what I’m seeing a little bit, just because it’s vegan, it’s more expensive, just because it’s vegan and gluten-free, it is more expensive. I want to end that, because if that’s the case, we are in a big competition with non-vegan bakeries; they are going to prefer the other cinnamon bun that have eggs and dairy instead of the one that is vegan (because of the price). So that’s my philosophy, and that’s why I created Canela.

I honestly don’t need to work, personally, I don’t have to, but for me it is important to spread the word about veganism and that’s why I’m more inclined to do dealerships instead of franchise.

JM: Awesome awesome, that makes sense. You mentioned that you don’t personally, probably financially, have to work, but maybe from a personal, philosophical, spiritual reason, you feel like you have to spread that message and everything, and that’s what you’re doing, which is incredible.
Okay, no right or wrong answers, maybe there’s something in the works, maybe not, maybe you are currently doing something, but the next question is:

Does Canela support any charities?

VA: We do we do support [The] Alice Sanctuary, I don’t know if you have heard about them. They are here in Calgary and we are a big supporter of that sanctuary. They’ve been rescuing so many animals lately. Obviously, they encourage expenses and every time that we can, we support them.

All the bottles that we have in the coffee area and the bottles that we use to make the products go to the SkiptheDepot. That’s a company, and all those proceeds go directly into the Alice Sanctuary.

We do events, we are doing fundraising events and we donate baked goods, so that’s what we do. We also help with rescue animals, forgive me, I don’t remember the name, but they (the organization) rescue dogs, cats, more like domestic animals, and we rescued basket for fundraising. We donate on a sporadic basis, but more to The Alice Sanctuary.

JM: Lovely, yeah, I mean, supporting animals is clearly in line with your vision about veganism and the message that you’re trying to spread, so that makes total sense and there’s lots of alignment there. You mentioned SkiptheDepot and Alice Sanctuary, amazing.

Okay as a business owner, it can be in your industry or not, it can be something general like mindset or finances or whatever it might be, there’s no wrong answers, but there are three different ways that a lot of us are getting our information these days, which is a book, a podcast, or a mobile app so:

Do you have any books, podcasts, or apps that you would recommend people check out?

VA: I don’t have the time to read any books for now or podcasts, I try, but I just don’t have the time. As an entrepreneur, you know you have to be, I create all my recipes, so I have to support the bakers. I have to supervise that the recipes are up to the standards. I have to supervise a coffee area, so it’s a lot for me right now, but I have watched all the movies that you can find anywhere on Amazon Prime or Netflix, all those kinds of movies. I’ve watched them all. I’m considering myself an earthling so the short answer, I don’t read any books at this moment.

JM: Not a problem at all, and because you are so busy and productive, we are so happy to have your time, so thank you again for that.

Are there any companies, again it can be local, it can be ones you work with or don’t work with, it might even be a global mega corporation, that’s fine too, with all that said:

Are there any companies who inspire you and Canela?

VA: I truly admire the people who are running vegan businesses. I had a market friend that we used to do markets together, farmers markets, so there’s one that is called Veghammer. She started selling donuts, vegan donuts, now she’s selling vegan meats. She can make anything. We actually use her ham, her chorizo and bacon in our baked goods. She’s really thriving and I really admire her that she’s going so far because it’s not easy. Selling vegan meats can be challenging, some of them will not taste that great, but she is really doing a great job and I truly admire that.

Another person that I truly admire is, he’s not vegan, but I worked for him for eight years, Bernard Callebaut. He is the most humble person I have known, and he truly inspired me into what I’m doing now. He was always very kind with the dealership family he had, with his staff, with all the dealers. He was always was grounded and a very humble person, so I really admire him.

JM: Yes perfect. The first business that you mentioned vegan hammer like hammer?

VA: Veghammer, but like a hammer, yes

JM: Okay, okay, awesome.

VA: Yeah, her name’s Jill. Her company name is Veghammer.

JM: Awesome. I’m not only craving cinnamon buns, but I’m also now craving your savoury pastries that apparently you make, which sounds incredible. Alright, we are at our final eight of eight conversation starter or questions which is always prefaced by, this is not the time to be humble, there is no right or wrong answer, and that is for business owners and entrepreneurs whether they’re just starting, whether they’re in the middle or whether they’re maybe thinking of selling or expanding:

What is some advice that you would depart on?

VA: That’s a really good question. I will say don’t give up, keep going, it’s gonna be very rough sometimes and most of the times not going to be what you expected. But find ways and find advice from other people, from other vegan businesses that can support you on your journey. I would say that you’re not alone, and to find help. It’s very tough, it’s not easy, it takes a lot of your time and family time and sometimes you’re going to find yourself crying and, “Why am I into this? Why do I even do this?” But there’s always a purpose and keep focusing on your vision—what you want and why you created.

It’s very easy to just say, “I can’t do it anymore, that’s it.” But keep going. It is very important to have your support from your family or your friends or your partner. It’s really important to have that support. You can’t do it alone.

JM: Beautiful, so what I’m hearing is your advice is to keep the end in mind and don’t assume that your path to the end is going to look anything like you thought it would at the beginning. And along that path, make sure you have people who are genuinely going to support you. What I also picked up on was, could be another 30 minutes to chat about, but it sounds like you’re almost giving the advice of maybe changing your perspective on failure or the tough times and embracing that, which I’ve heard before so—fail first, fail often. Don’t be afraid of failure, don’t be afraid of fear, just lean into it because it’s, to your point, it’s part of the process to the ultimate vision that we’re trying to get to. So excellent, excellent, excellent.

VA: Yeah, I mean we are all gonna fail, but we have to learn from those failures and keep going. And find another way to do it. It’s a failure. It doesn’t mean that you are done. A failure means that you learn from it and keep moving forward.

JM: Yeah you heard it here folks, if you run into a challenge or an obstacle, you can go through, over, around or under it, there are plenty of ways to get through that challenge and that obstacle.

Thank you so, so, so, so much Veronica for your time today. We’ll let you get back to you and your team and what you do best. For those listening, if you want to find out more like I talked about, if you want to drool, make sure you head over to Instagram @canelayyc (that is c-a-n-e-l-a, just one L. Canela yyc.) And the same is true on the web: canelayyc.com. Thank you so much for your time today, Veronica.

VA: Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure. Bye now.