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| Laura & Didier, owners of Julien's |
On February 5th I visited Julien's bakery where they bake the breads and pastries for their retail outlets. We hear constantly that small and medium sized businesses are the backbone of Nova Scotia's economy. Businesses like Julien's bakery of Chester. It's family owned and a dream come true for husband and wife owners Didier Julien and Laura Mulrooney. For more than 20 years they've been turning out bread, croissants and many other delectable products. On a recent visit Didier showed me his sourdough starter, which has been going for 18 years! It's the secret to great sourdough bread, one of my favourites. Among their other products are sorbet and ice-cream as well as all kinds of luscious cakes. They sell to their retail outlet in Chester, to other retailers, at farmer's markets as well as to hotels and restaurants. Laura, Didier and their employees clearly take pride in what they produce. Didier described taking flour and turning it into pastry dough, a living thing, with his hands. It hasn't been easy over the years. They've worked very hard for everything they've built. They employ 25 full-time workers, a boon in any rural area. We need to support businesses like Julien's by making sure taxes are as low as possible, that there isn't unnecessary red tape when dealing with government departments, by making sure government helps, not hinders their growth and by promoting 'buy local' programs. And one more interesting morsel: Julien's goes through 2 tons of flour every week. Amazing.
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| Robert Burns slices chocolate cake |
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| Robert Burns shows me pastries in one of the walk-in refrigerators |
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| Didier shows me his 18 year old sourdough starter |
