E268 Dan Angus
From Fine Dining Chef to Artisan Baker: Building a Local-First Bakery in Cambridge, Ontario
In our latest episode we sit down with Dan Angus, co-owner of Terroir Bakery in Cambridge, Ontario — an artisan bakery built around a simple but demanding philosophy: only local ingredients, sourced from Ontario farmers.
Dan spent years working his way through some of Canada's top fine dining kitchens, including a long stint at the acclaimed Langdon Hall, before an unexpected detour into baking during the COVID pandemic changed everything. What started as sourdough loaves given away to friends and neighbours slowly grew into a farmer's market business, wholesale partnerships, and ultimately a brick-and-mortar bakery housed in a century-old former textile factory.
We talk about:
- Why Terroir doesn't use chocolate, vanilla, or citrus — and what that means for how they bake
- The jump from fine dining cooking to artisan baking with no formal pastry training
- The real cost of opening a bakery — equipment, buildouts, and going three times over budget
- Navigating tariffs and economic uncertainty while importing commercial equipment
- What it's like to build a business with your spouse from the ground up
A great listen for anyone interested in the food industry, small business ownership, or what it really takes to bring an independent bakery to life.
A big thank you to Jean-Marc Dykes of Imbiblia. Imbiblia is a cocktail app for bartenders, restaurants and cocktail lovers alike and built by a bartender with more than a decade of experience behind the bar. Several of the features includes the ability to create your own Imbiblia Recipe Cards with the Imbiblia Cocktail Builder, rapidly select ingredients, garnishes, methods and workshop recipes with a unique visual format, search by taste, using flavour profiles unique to Imbiblia, share recipes publicly plus many more......Imbiblia - check it out!
Contact the host Kypp Saunders by email at [email protected] for products from Elora Distilling, Malivoire Winery and Terroir Wine Imports.
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