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Providing a taste of the Shuswap

‘The way to a happy life is to find something you love to do and then find a way to make money at it.’
Blue Canoe Bakery and Cafe owners Al, Sandy and Loic Boucher.
Following their passion: Al and Sandy Boucher

‘The way to a happy life is to find something you love to do and then find a way to make money at it.’

It’s this lesson from Sandy Boucher’s father that made saying goodbye to two established careers seem possible – and helped open the door to the Blue Canoe.

Seven years ago Sandy was working as a certified management accountant while her husband Al Boucher was making a good living as a plumber/gas fitter. They lived in Calgary and shared a passion. Food.

“Food came naturally to me – I have a French background,” explains Al. “I cooked all my life, but I didn’t realize I had a passion for it until I was 23.”

He began buying fine ingredients for his creations.

“That’s what Al and I would do as fun time,” agrees Sandy. “He would cook, I’d bake. We enjoyed going to nice restaurants, and just enjoyed food.”

Visiting Salmon Arm in 2007, the couple noticed Rahn’s bakery was for sale. They’d also noticed how much good locally grown food and wine was available.

“We saw this place for sale and thought, ‘How hard can it be?’” smiles Sandy.

Adds Al: “We had no background in it; I’d never baked bread in my life… I threw out a lot of dough learning how to make bread,” he laughs.

They’ve learned a lot over the past six years and have continuously focused on funnelling their belief in healthy food and a healthy planet into their menu.

They use local, organic produce, local chicken, local eggs, locally grown and milled flour and grain, local cheese. Their food is not shipped long distances. Their suppliers include Kazy Farm Organics, Roots and Greens Farm organics, Wolfgang’s Grain and Flour, Little Red Hen Artisan Bakery, Farmcrest Foods, Shuswap Coffee Company, Highland Farm and D Dutchmen Dairy.

“Everything is purchased from farmers. If I can’t get it from farmers, it’s purchased from Askew’s, who has been a huge support of ours for the past six years,” Al says.

Scraps get saved and turned into compost or go to feed the chickens at Highland Farm.

“I can control the ingredients from the seed to the plate, from the farm to the plate,” says Al. “That’s my passion, to be able to provide a taste of the Shuswap. When you come to the Blue Canoe, that’s what you get. A taste of the Shuswap.”

The restaurant recently expanded from 24 to 50 seats. Among Tracy Kutschker’s paintings which adorn the walls is one of the Bouchers’ back yard, with its ever-expanding garden.

Al still specializes in the savouries while Sandy enjoys baking. Since the birth of their son Loic she comes to the restaurant less, but she experiments at home with new recipes. Sandy’s CMA designation means she can do the food costing, payroll and the books, while Al’s training means he can fix the equipment – the oven, bread proofer and mixers.

After the years of hard work on production, Al is pleased to have a great staff who likes working with food – and which allows him more time to have fun with his creations.

Recently, for instance, he’s been making his own pastrami, which sits in a brine for three weeks and then is dried, seasoned and smoked – right at the restaurant.

Although family members were skeptical from time to time when the couple bought the premises, that’s all changed.

“My grandpa was so mad,” smiles Al. “Now, he’s quite proud. He sees how well we’ve done in a small town and in an industry that’s tough to do well in.”