In the photo: Ben McKay, Chief of Operations, and Chef Brett Turner of the first Kolachy Co. The Beatty Street location will be the first of several Vancouver outlets for the new chain which has morphed from the original and well-loved Kolachy Shop.

OPENING SOON
KOLACHY CO.

Noticing that the brown paper was off the windows, the lights were on inside and the front door was open, we rushed down to the Kolachy Co. thinking that we might be in time to snag the first bun out of the ovens, but nope. It was only Ben McKay and Brett Turner inside awaiting the arrival of the health inspector. Once that last hurdle is successfully cleared then the doors will be "unofficially" open for business -- hopefully as early as tomorrow.

What will be revealed is likely to be a good example of "the little shop that could". Once the Kolachy Shop, a hole-in-the-wall, specialty bakery started in 2003 by brothers Jason and Keith Thilbert, it has now morphed into the Kolachy Co, along with new owners, new branding, a new menu and a new business game plan.

Currently under the ownership of Dave Emry of the Emry Group and his partners, the original Beatty Street location of the Kolachy Co will be only the first of several outlets planned for Vancouver. Venues at the Bentall Centre and KingsGate Mall are already under construction and should be open within the month, although according to McKay, the company will remain as a self-contained property and will not be offered for franchise. However, that doesn't mean they don't have ambitions for it. Australian born McKay received his background in operational management via employment at such companies as Starbucks. Chef Brett Turner has been associated with a number of well known Vancouver restaurants and was most recently part of the four man team that opened District restaurant in North Vancouver. Branding and marketing for the reincarnated company will be handled by Rethink Marketing.

"After the original owners left, the recipes for the kolachy buns were dumbed down so that untrained cooks could reproduce them, said Chef Brett. "But what we are going to do is restore the quality of the product and use fresh, locally produced ingredients. The buns will all be made by hand and you will be able to watch the process in the open kitchen located in the center of the room. For our other items we will be trying to work with as many local suppliers as possible. For example, 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters will be supplying the coffee and they have custom designed a special house blend just for us."

Structurally, the floor space for the shop has been opened up to create a larger kitchen and there is now a washroom with handicap access on the premises, although the number of high stools by the front window remains the same. Come tomorrow, there will be new signage outside, a new menu mounted on the wall and (weather permitting) a few tables out on the sidewalk.

But will the kolachy's former fan club return? (It once generated a discussion thread of several pages on e-gullet.) Most likely there will be some debate on the virtues of the little bun, before and after its "graduation".

For those unsure of what a kolachy is, or confused by the concept, it's a baseball-sized, Slavic bakery item that is like a cross between a hole-free bagel and a filled doughnut. Most of the time the fillings are savoury, however the old menu did offer some sweet versions.