What’s Vegan in YYC – For Goodness Bake

For Goodness Bake is a takeout cafe/market offering a variety of pre-made, ready-to-eat, and frozen take-and-reheat items, as well as Alberta’s only fully plant-based commercial ghost kitchen. Centrally located near Chinook Centre in Kingsland Village, their concept is about supporting small and local businesses with incredible products. I had an opportunity to sit down with Sam (they/them) and Josh (he/him), owners of For Goodness Bake, to discuss the future of their business and veganism in Calgary.

Where did the concept for For Goodness Bake come from?

Josh: “We worked together at a clinic and they would do these lunch and learns. And everytime they’d bring in a lunch – we had like, a vegan, lactose-free, someone who ate halal – and usually at least one person would be left out, or it would just be…upsetting? How bad it was. Like, here’s some red sauce on a crust with a sprig of basil – it’s a margherita pizza! (laughs) So seeing that was a bit of a – you know, we realized there’s probably a market for something better.

Also getting all of the vegan products in town can be a bit of a pain. It’s traveling all around the city for the day – the entire day, if they’re even open that day, if they’re not at the farmers market that’s maybe the one you’re at, that may have a cover charge to it, that may have a parking fee to it.. And you can order it all in, but that’s a 10, 15 dollar delivery charge each and the costs add up.

So we had the idea – I think Sam largely thought of it – but we got together a bunch of the businesses that we knew in the area that were vegan and said, ‘Hey, this is something we think we see a market for, would you be interested in it?’ Everyone was excited for it, so we started moving forward with it. Some of them had inquired if we would have a kitchen available for them as well – it wasn’t initially in the plans, but the fact that we kind of stumbled into this place with help from 8cakes…we were able to offer a kitchen, and now we have Alberta’s only Fully Plant-based Commercial Ghost Kitchen. Not all of our vendors are vegan, but everyone respects the “don’t bring anything that’s not vegan into the building” rule.”

When did For Goodness Bake open?

Josh: We opened November 2020.

Timing, however, was on their side, as they were able to avoid the pandemic shutdowns that affected many businesses. Sam and Josh gained possession of the space in September and took a couple of months to, as Josh puts it, “neutralize the front a little bit. At the time it was bit overly feminine, and being a vegan store, we wanted it to be inclusive. If you have some guy coming in, you know, fresh off the rig, we wanted him to feel as comfortable walking in here as anybody else.”

The number of businesses has fluctuated somewhat over the years, but For Goodness Bake currently sits at around 23 vendors. Operating a business that sources its products specifically from small businesses comes with it’s own unique set of challenges.

Sam: often it’s just a matter of keeping up with the demand; we’re growing faster than their production schedule can allow sometimes. It’s usually a single individual or someone who is doing this as their part-time, not their full-time job, so they weren’t expecting to grow so rapidly, sometimes faster than even we were anticipating in regards to ordering. Sometimes, unfortunately, that does mean people are waiting on products.

Josh: and genuinely very random fluctuations like – we know which days to expect more people, which holidays are busier, but sometimes it’s like what is making this product fly off the shelves when it didn’t sell the last six months? What was in the news that made people go ‘I want a chocolate chip cookie?’, you know?”

In spite of the challenges, owning the business definitely comes with it’s rewards.

Josh: I love surprising people!

Sam: Seeing the excitement on peoples faces when they have a dietary restriction, and then they find out we have more than one product that fits that restriction just makes their day.

Josh: We’ve had parents break down a little bit because their kid can actually just pick anything, and he can share with his parents now, so he’s telling them what they’re going to get.

Sam: I definitely don’t think we anticipated that we’d be bringing so much joy to people – it’s the inclusivity, that sense of community. And being able to work so closely with companies that we were supporting and such fans of previously, and seeing the amount of passion and love they put into their product – it just makes you want to promote it more, talk about those products more. We get to highlight them. Of course, being your own boss is a big advantage.

Are you currently accepting new vendors?

Josh: We are always accepting new vendors, particularly ones that are fully vegan or have a large vegan selection in their product line. If they’re not vegan, they should be aware of what vegan actually is, and be supportive of the community.

What advice would you offer to somebody who is in the idea stages of a vegan business?

Josh: They have to be prepared to market themselves.

Sam: Yes, and do their market research as well, to see how much that product is wanted. And really get ready to market your product, get ready to put in a lot of work into your business, and anticipate a lot of really hard work in the beginning, but also like, a lot of really fun times with marketing to customers, getting to know different people, and expect a really nice community to gather around you and support you.

Josh: This is an incredibly friendly and loving community. Very passionate about what they do.

Sam: You need to make sure you are passionate about what you’re bringing, in regards to your product quality, and your marketing. If you believe in it, show people you believe in it.

Josh and Sam are certainly walking their talk, with For Goodness Bake recently acquiring local favourite Veghammer. Part of the Calgary community since 2018, Veghammer’s offerings include delicious vegan doughnuts, plant-based “mheats” and prepared food items. Josh explained that while part of the acquisition was about streamlining, “We obviously really enjoyed the product as well.”

What’s next with regards to Veghammer?

Josh: Veghammer will be undergoing a re-branding; the name will stay the same, but definitely some new and updated packaging.

Sam: We’re currently launching some new products, and really working on narrowing down the products that really sell, and then ensuring that we can keep production up for those specific items. And then of course looking to expand into some little cafes and other stores.

Josh: Get the wholesale going so that, you know, a random cafe in Nelson might have some Veghammer bacon.

So what’s next for For Goodness Bake? Josh and Sam would eventually like to expand the concept to other cities, maintaining the focus on local small businesses and products.

Sam: We want to help small businesses in other cities grow like we have here in Calgary, we want them to have a space where they can make their product, in a very cost friendly way, and have the option to sell their product as well, but still keeping it very localized.

Josh: The biggest thing for us is small businesses; if you’re big enough to be in Safeway and places like that, and it’s readily available, that’s amazing, but that’s not who we work with. We prefer the harder to find stuff, the smaller guys you might not know about.

In a city where “vegan” can be seen as a four letter word, and now some vegan businesses are pivoting to non-vegan offerings, is the intention to always remain fully vegan?

Sam: Yes! Like are we sure this isn’t just a phase? (laughs) I don’t think we would ever not…we’d close before we got there. We’re here to provide good food that almost everyone can eat, while also trying to support local. We’re trying to do that, and we happen to be fully vegan. But that’s not all that we are. We are also a queer owned business, a neuro-divergent owned business…those things are never going away. Just like our veganism isn’t going away.We do lose sales because we are vegan, but we prefer it that way. We’re not here to change your morals. We’re just here to change your mind about how good the food is.

What would you like to say to the vegan community in Calgary?

Josh: The vegan community in Calgary is genuinely amazing; super nice people who care. And we want everybody to know about us so that everyone can enjoy good food, and not be “that person” who is left out. Tell your friends where to get vegan stuff when you’re around, and it doesn’t have to be stuff that others can’t enjoy.

Sam: and we also want to say thank you to our vendors who continue to work with us, who stick around and continue to deal with us, thank you to our regulars who we’ve become close with. We’ve created some really good friendships, so thank you so much for that continual support. Also, it’s just two of us, we are working super hard and doing our best, so please be nice.

For Goodness Bake is located at #232 7337 Macleod Tr S.W. in Calgary Alberta.
Find them on:
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http://www.forgoodnessbake.ca

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