Our Story Embraces Change
Wanting to grow our community, we finally bit the bullet and entered the Saturday and Tuesday Markets again focusing primarily on baked goods, but now slowly adding some savoury meals as well.
By the time we got the news that the landlord of our home of five years was wanting to take over the house again, we were already well into the process of opening our new venture, Ox Eats Grass!
We had no idea at the time what was ahead for us. We were suddenly launching an all vegan comfort food business and having to let go of the successful bakery we had been building for 3 years. We could not do both, and at the time it was too late to change direction once again. So we set our sights on what Ox could be and it has grown into such a wonderfully popular destination for so many; we have zero regrets.
But change comes for us all does it not? While Ox has been growing steadily, gaining new followers and regulars on the daily, internally we have been struggling to keep it afloat. Food costs are astronomical these days, both on the customer and the business. While we have seen our business triple in foot traffic this year, our costs are skyrocketing beyond what is feasible to continue without some kind of CHANGE….see, there’s that word again.
Since we first transformed a spare room in our garage into a thriving roadside bakery our business has been all about change. Even before the farmstand was ever built, we started as a pre-ordered frozen baked goods business only; delivering to islanders and even to Vancouver Island. We quickly outgrew that model and Mountain View Vegan Bakery Farmstand was born.
For three years we shared our love of baked goods with islanders and tourists alike; our favourite times were when car loads of folks would find us, open their doors and scream that they had found heaven. What we did not love was never seeing the faces of kiddos with wide-eyes scanning for their preferred treat; or chatting with other plant based folks about how hard it is to find good vegan food on the island.
Big, hard, strategic decisions have to be made in order to continue building what has now become a community gathering place, a destination, a plant based foodies dream come true. One thing is certain…we are not closing. We are adapting, we are growing, we are changing. Sometimes growth means getting bigger, but sometimes it is recognizing that you cannot do it all; that maybe letting go is the right thing and that looking backwards is moving forward.
So while not everyone will be happy with the upcoming changes, we do know that we will continue to find our community by continuing to do the thing that we love…showing up with warm plates of the best plant based comfort foods, baked or otherwise.
“People eat meat & think they’ll become as strong as an ox, forgetting that the Ox Eats Grass”
