Marcello Sperandeo was a fixture at the Old Mill House Pub for many years. Since moving to Creemore at the age of 18, Sperandeo worked in the his parents’ business doing everything from waiting tables and helping out in the kitchen, to maintaining the old building and occasionally temperamental equipment.
“It was my first job in hospitality,” he says, “And I learned a lot. The pub has a big menu and a lot of moving parts.”
Sperandeo and wife Bronwen Parry knew they wanted a business of their own, then they became aware of the Budapest Bakeshop.
“Bronwen came home from a visit with her grandmother and brought me one of their sandwiches, and I was blown away,” said Sperandeo.
The couple had not been considering franchise opportunities but Budapest Bakeshop offered something special. At that point there were only two locations, one in Port Dalhousie and one in Niagara on the Lake. It was started in 2019 by Todd and Anet Kane, whose family is Hungarian.
“They’ve been refining things ever since,” said Sperandeo, “so you get the benefit of tried and true processes but unlike most franchises, their approach is still flexible and very collaborative.”
“We were convinced that this would be a hit in Collingwood, and it just happened that they were thinking of expanding to this market,” he said. “We scouted locations for about six months before we found the space on Hurontario Street.
The business officially opened on Sept. 27. Since then, it’s been a lot of long days.
“We’re here at 6:30 every morning to start baking. Everything is made from scratch and it’s all fresh every day. Our signature item is chimney cakes, a sweet yeasted dough baked in special ovens imported from Hungary,” said Sperandeo. “Traditionally, this would be a dessert item but we have a mix of sweet and savoury flavours. On any given day, we’ll have seven or eight dessert chimney cakes and six or seven savoury, plus six or seven spreads that will vary by season.”
Chimney cakes are cylindrical, baked around dowels – steel for sweet flavours and wood for savoury cakes. The dough, according to Sperandeo, is like a secret weapon, “Is it bread-like pastry or pastry- like bread? It’s the same dough that we use to bake bread for our sandwiches. I like to think of the menu as attainable but a little exotic.”
Since opening, response has been overwhelmingly positive.
“We actually have customers who’ve been here every single day since we opened,” said Sperandeo.
The Budapest Bakeshop is open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 197 Hurontario St. Menu items range from $8 to $15, and catering is available.
