An online, on-demand boulangerie made every morning thanks to our pastry chefs.

We sat down with two of Mile End’s most instrumental bakery and pastry chefs: Suyin Wong from Boulangerie Hof Kelsten and Marie-Josée Katcho from Jaimée Sweets & Cie. Managing their team with Lufavore’s standards and taste buds in mind, they both carefully and systematically prepare first-rate pastries that are baked fresh the morning of your delivery. 

Check out the videos and photos below to get to know the incredible team behind your daily treats. Careful…you may get flour on your nose!

Boulangerie Hof Kelsten, Montreal, QC.

Hof’s team was one of the first to add morning-made pastries to the Marketplace. Today, these artisans bake nearly a thousand European-style croissants, danishes, biscotti, brownies, and cakes by hand every day with simple, fresh ingredients at the corner of Saint-Laurent and Mont-Royal Avenue. And the dough keeps on rising: with a new atelier dedicated to pastries opening in the Mile-Ex district for summer 2023, the team’s excited to test and develop all kinds of new creations.

Meet Hof’s founder Jeffrey and their new head pastry chef Suyin. Born in Singapore, raised in Vancouver, and trained in Paris, Suyin is a former finance expert who traded the stock market for an apron in 2012 before finding herself on the Hof team at the beginning of the 2021.

As a party chef, you have no choice but to be an early bird, starting your day at 3 am. Taking turns on the night shift, the small team produces 4,400 croissants, 2,000 chocolatines, and 800 danishes per week.

In addition to sourcing as many local ingredients as possible, Suyin orders responsible baking essentials. By special request from our team, ingredients like grapes, walnuts, and cinnamon that go into the danishes (seen above) are all imported with sustainability in mind.

Eight types of pastries and six types of European breads come out of Hof's ovens and are delivered to Lufavores every day. Now that Suyin will be working in a brand new kitchen (just a few blocks from their bakery) she’ll have the space to experiment and add even more diversity to our Marketplace! 

Jaimée, Montreal, QC.

In a bright atelier on Bernard Avenue, you’ll find Marie-Josée, one of our most creative pastry partners. Starting on the Marketplace in 2022 with marshmallows, she’s now created a diverse sweets lineup ranging from cookies to cupcakes, caramels, and more. When crafting pastries, her goal is to integrate botanical and non-conventional ingredients to make something different. As a team player, Marie-Josée builds community and promotes circular economy by working and collaborating with local folks from in and around her neighbourhood. 

Timing is everything when it comes to such a varying lineup of desserts. Marie-Josée has her system down to a T - from measuring ingredients and prep time, to icing and finishing touches, she gets all her sweets ready in the evening and is up at dawn to bring us everything fresh.

She prioritizes seasonal ingredients in her recipes, which are often born from collaboration with her team. For example, she’s added a maple sandwich for cabane à sucre season and has lots of pumpkins and apple pastries in the fall. 

Marie-Josée draws inspiration from her surplus, reducing her food waste to next to nothing. From fruit and chocolate biscuits born from leftover holiday ingredients to specialty cakes made with extra spices she used in spooky Halloween treats, her creativity is endless.

Starting out in 2022, our partnership has helped her grow her business along with our pastry category. Whether it’s hand-wrapping 10,000 boxes of caramels for a weekly gift, or bringing back Lufavore’s favourite, the apple snickerdoodle cookie, she’s here to meet any and all of our needs.