Since opening From Scratch Cafe Bistro a little over three years ago, co-owners Terra Wilton and James Lorinczi have been dedicated to creating an eatery that champions handmade food, crafted with care from local ingredients, offering a fresh and flavorful experience with the unique appeal of a rotating menu.
James Lorinczi, who has been a chef for many years before opening From Scratch Cafe Bistro, delved into the start of the business.
“Four and a half years ago, I got a message from Terra, who is my business partner, out of the blue, asking me if I would like to open what would become From Scratch. This was during lockdowns…and Terra wanted to sit down with me and chat about this business opportunity. At first, I was a little skeptical, but I eventually said yes to doing this…I already had experience as a chef at different restaurants beforehand, while Terra made a name for herself as the Brantford Bagel Babe during lockdowns…as well as having experience in the [food industry],” he said. “We then created the business proposal and figured out how to get things going. But the essence of From Scratch is making everything essentially from scratch, and that’s where the name comes from.”
With the idea taking root, the business had some challenges at first, but the business partners overcame them with a little help from a family member.
“One of the major challenges was finding a good place while maintaining the budget we had and keeping in mind costs like renovations we would probably be doing. We didn’t want to go get a massive business loan and immediately get into debt just to get a restaurant up and running. For us, it was finding the right spot (which we did), and we were lucky to have Terra’s husband to help us. He’s a contractor who owns a contracting company, and he ended up renovating the new place with some of his employees after hours.” He explained. “We took over the lease in December, and they had everything up and running by mid-March 2022. But other challenges we faced during this time were getting inspections done and getting the proper building permits…so there were some delays. Sometimes it felt like it wasn’t going to happen, but when everything finally came together…it was go-go-go from there.”
However, the idea that they wanted to explore was the rotating menu which quickly attracted customers.
“I had a concept years ago [and] I brought it up when I was working at other restaurants, but it was something that they thought wouldn’t work. For From Scratch, I really wanted to do the rotating menu at all times…for me, I get bored eating the same food…and cooking the same food non-stop. This concept was doing four or five things on a menu on a weekly basis and then rotating with something different the following week. And this gives customers new foods to discover and try all the time,” he said. “The rotating menu also gives us a chance to use whatever ingredients are in season which also helps us with food costs. Because we’re not going out to find all the sales at the grocery stores…and we aren’t going through GFS or Sysco or any of those big food distribution centres. We like going out sometimes four or five times a day if we need to [and] getting what we need fresh especially at local places like Brant Food Centre.”
Along with their revered bagels, Lorinczi and Terra look to continually add different options to the menu.
“Our heavy hitters are obviously our bagels…everyone comes in for them in the morning with a coffee…and it’s been very popular. But I remember when we launched ramen bowls…that was honestly didn’t realize that it was going to be so popular…we were selling out every single day. We had to keep up with demand…going to Hamilton two or three times a week to stock up on noodles and other ingredients for the bowls. We’re selling anywhere from 60 to 75 bowls a day; people were waiting around 45 minutes just to sit down to have our ramen,” he said. “Another popular item that we have had is our flatbreads and those sell out quickly. Our family meals are always popular too…we offer massive amounts of food for a great value and these meals feed between four and six people. Our bagel sandwiches have also been very popular lately. And something of a trend right now is our turkey sandwiches that have been selling very well over the last few weeks. And we are really proud of the fact that we actually cure and smoke our own salmon in-house which is a long process. It takes about five to seven days using only salt and sugar. We then cold smoke it afterwards, and then we slice it nice and thin. But just to have that offering, makes the experience of eating here unique and appealing to customers.”
Along with food, Wilton and Lorinczi always look for opportunities to promote the local community especially when it comes to art.
“We have been proud to support local artists who want to showcase their pieces at our establishment and gets people come in interesting in their works…we’ve had some artists actually sell some of their work which is great…but it’s just nice to see that customers coming in have a chance to see different artistic styles and enjoy them…as it creates a nice ambience while they dine in or just coming by to pick up food on the go,” he noted.
Nevertheless, during the last several years, they have also fostered close relationships with other businesses in the community as well as trying to give back.
“We know a couple different restaurants around us like Angie [Risi] at Maria’s West who has always been helpful and is very close to Terra…and there’s Brian [Xurieb] from Lonnie’s who is very close to us as well as Hudson Public and Uncle Sam’s…these friendships have grown over the years. We thought many of these established places were going to be competition for us when we first opened…but when they knew about us these businesses started up conversations with us and helped us through the years,” he stated. “When it comes to giving back…we have a board up for people to donate food to the poor. How it works is that people can donate various meals or even money $20, $30 or even $40 on the board and we try to maximize what we can and feed as many people as we can with those donations.”
Fast forward three years, and both Lorinczi and Wilton continue to relish managing their business and building relationships in the community.
“We’ve come a long way since we opened…I’ve run kitchens before, but I’ve never running outside of a kitchen! So, it’s been a different and exciting experience…. but along the way there were a lot of mistakes we made…and have learned from them, especially during the first year, year-and-a-half. Now, we have things under control, where we have an amazing staff that we trust…so that means me and Terra have more time to spend with our families,” he reflected. “Another great thing is how Terra and I have become friends. We have both become close to each other’s families too and help each other when needed…it’s also great to see the community that has built around us, that we’re a part of… [including] friends that are business owners…and how people will drop anything on their end for you if you need any help.”
