Latest news with #FranAdsett
CTV News
5 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Breslau restaurant and bakery raising funds for Walkerton school following tragic crash
A restaurant and bakery in Breslau is raising money for the Walkerton District Community School, which is mourning the loss of four students and a teacher killed in a crash last month. For all of June, proceeds from pies sold at Frannie's Restaurant & Bakery will go to the school. 'The money will be going to them directly so that they can put together a scholarship, or that they are able to put it into memory benches,' Fran Adsett, owner of Frannie's Restaurant & Bakery, said. 'Whatever the team wants to do with the fundraiser money.' Adsett wanted to do something to help after hearing about the crash. It happened on May 23 in Middlesex County. The collision involved two SUVs and a transport truck. Adsett decided to sell pies for $50, with $35 of each pie going straight to the school. 'Anyone that is looking to buy pie, you're more than welcome to come in and buy off the shelf, or otherwise you're more than welcome to call,' Adsett said. Frannie's Restaurant and Bakery in Breslau, Ont. A pie was photographed at Frannie's Restaurant & Bakery in Breslau, Ont. on June 2, 2025. (Colton Wiens/CTV News) Adsett has done other fundraisers before, but said this one hits close to home, as she once attended the school 'I was born and raised in Mildmay. My siblings and I went to school there. But I do a lot of things in the roots of the community, and I just feel that this is something strongly that they need the support,' Adsett said. Various types of pies are available, and Frannie's said they can also make a custom one. By request, for an extra five dollars. Anyone who wants to make a donation and not actually purchase a pie can do so as well. '[I'm a ] type one diabetic, who can't eat a pie, as much as I'd love to,' Betty Cecchetto, a customer that donated to the fundraiser on Monday said. 'This is just an opportunity for me to give back to my neighbors.' 'I'm a retired teacher, I'm a mother of children and grandchildren who play lots of sports. I know how important a team is. These guys have just taken the worst hit possible. Anything we can do to help the morale would be wonderful,' Cecchetto said. Fran Adsett Frannie's Restaurant & Bakery in Breslau, Ont. Fran Adsett packed up a pie at Frannie's Restaurant & Bakery in Breslau, Ont. on June 2, 2025. (Colton Wiens/CTV News) As for how it's going, Adsett said she put out flyers two days before the start of June, and lots of people have already helped the cause. 'In those two days prior, we already sold 30 pies. I am sure with lots of success, that we will raise a good amount of money for the team,' Adsett said. Orders can be made in person, or over the phone. Adsett said she will be driving up to the community to drop off a cheque when the fundraiser is over at the end of the month.
CBC
6 days ago
- General
- CBC
Breslau baker selling pies to benefit Walkerton school after fatal crash
Fran Adsett says she felt like she needs to give back to the community where she grew up after hearing about the fatal crash that killed four students and a teacher from Walkerton District Community School last month. Adsett grew up in Mildmay, Ont., a neighbouring town to Walkerton, and her family is still there. She's now the owner and baker at Frannie's Restaurant and Bakery on Highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph and the restaurant is known locally for its baked goods. "I have a strong background with going back home and supporting back home. So when I saw the story, my heart goes out to all of the family, the friends, the community, the team. So I just felt that I need to do something," Adsett said. "It's not just a town. It's not just a village — you're family." Four teenage girls from Walkerton District Community School were travelling home with their teacher on the afternoon of May 23 after a softball tournament east of London when they were involved in a crash with a transport truck. Rowan McLeod, Kaydance Ford, Danica Baker, Olivia Rourke and Mat Eckert were killed. Their deaths were acknowledged across Canada, including by Prime Minister Mark Carney, who wrote that it was an "unimaginable loss that no family, no classmate, no school should ever have to endure." Funeral services were held over the weekend for them. Throughout the month of June, Adsett will be selling her pies for $50, with the restaurant keeping about $14 for ingredients and the rest of the money going to the school. Adsett says she hopes the money could be used for the school's Riverhawks sports teams. "I know that there's lots of money that's going to the families, but my concern is for Riverhawks, for the actual team, so that they can have their mourning as well," she said. "They can do whatever they feel free to do in honour of all of the people that have passed away ... whether they want to do a scholarship, whether they want memorial benches, whatever the team as a family want to do, this money will go towards them." People can order a pie by contacting the restaurant.
CBC
22-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
5 years later: Food columnist Jasmine Mangalaseril on how local food businesses survived pandemic lockdowns
Social Sharing Five years ago, the world as we know it changed. With the first stay-at-home orders in Canada being enforced mid-March 2020, some businesses adapted to work-from-home protocols. Restaurants were considered an essential service that remained open but under tight restrictions and so they needed creativity to keep the lights on and rent paid. Before the pandemic, the food service industry rode a high. Between 2008 and 2018, the sector's GDP growth led all major Canadian industries. In 2020, total food service sales tumbled by almost 30 per cent. Within a couple of years, a Restaurants Canada survey indicated just more than half were operating at a loss. Nationally, thousands of restaurants closed permanently, widening the gap between chains and independents. Between 2019 to 2023, the number of chain outlets increased by about 1,100 while independents lost almost 3,100. Today in Waterloo region and area, restaurant numbers have bounced back. More licenses were issued to businesses in the restaurant category by the end of 2024 than in 2019, with Waterloo seeing the largest total rise (30 per cent). Community support Fran Adsett opened her namesake restaurant in 2015, Frannie's, on Highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph. Her homestyle cooking features fresh, local, in-season ingredients and it earned her a loyal customer base. Like many, she assumed normality would return after the first stay-at-home order. It didn't. COVID-19 became a blur of 20-hour days in the restaurant while looking for ways to remain open. This included opening a drive-thru for pre-ordered pick-ups ranging from butter tart sundaes to barbecue to fish and chips. Some customers pre-ordered 20 pies at a time to hand out to neighbours and friends. "The amount of people that said, 'You know what, friend? Don't worry 'cause we're here to support you,'" recalled Adsett. She introduced ready meals, including shepherd's pie and lasagna, something she's continued to do. Adsett acquired the lease next door and opened a seasonal ice cream shop. She set up a roadside produce centre featuring locally-sourced foods. Today, as people renew their search for local items, she's planning to bring back the produce centre this summer. "I just find that you always have to be ready to move mountains or whatever you have to do," said Adsett. "I work too hard to be where I am, to just let it crumble." Tough cookie Lou Gazzola spent 18 months in planning and concept testing, and a couple of months renovating his Waterloo cookie bakery. The plan was that university students and corporate clients were to be his key markets. Sweet Lou's Cookies opened just days before stay-at-home orders came down. Many students returned home. Businesses stopped hosting events and team meetings. So, he focused on other ways of getting his cookies into customer mouths. "What we had to do was focus on the delivery…and in-store pickup," explained Gazzola. "We had to extend our hours into the daytime and open longer hours [for workers ending their night shifts]." He could have gone in many directions to establish the shop's footing, but he stuck to his business plan. They brought in ice cream (for sandwiches and shakes) and donated cookies to first responders and social services. "We do all sorts of support work in the community, and the community just gives back to us," said Gazzola. "We didn't advertise that we were doing that, but people knew and so they would come in and support us." Virtual reality Chefs Kirstie Herbstreit and Jody O'Malley opened The Culinary Studio in 2011, with a teaching kitchen and communal table for 20. By 2020, they were catering, selling grab-and-go meals and their classes sold out six months in advance. As the pandemic's disruption stretched beyond the first two weeks, they had tens of thousands of dollars in registrations for classes they couldn't deliver. Herbstreit's chance encounter with a student, who asked about online classes, changed the course of their business. "And I said, 'Would you sign up?'," said Herbstreit. "And she was like, 'Oh yeah. We're so bored'." Their first online class included cook-along meal kits registrants could purchase. "The longer we went on, the more we refined and made the online world our space, it didn't make sense to go back to in-person," said O'Malley. They closed the physical cooking school and now have a warehouse from where curated ingredient kits are distributed. "Our titles changed from chef-owners to co-founders and chefs. We have a tech company that can reach so many more people," said O'Malley. "You just have to see the positive of it all. You can't go back. You can't go backwards."
