FRONTLINES
No Matter How You Slice It, New Café Is As Easy As Pie Chris Ryan along with his daughter Olivia, recently opened the Riverside Pie Café on Wyandotte Street East in Windsor. The new café serves fruit and savoury pies by the slice and also sells whole pies, all baked in their adjoining kitchen.
Photo by Dave Hall.
A father-daughter team has opened a new café in a growing and popular stretch of Wyandotte Street East in the heart of Riverside. Chris Ryan, who previously owned and operated Jose’s Noodle Factory and later Patrick O. Ryan’s Irish Pub, and daughter Olivia opened Riverside Pie Café in early October, focusing on seasonal sweet and savoury pies all baked in their adjoining kitchen. “My wife and I bought the building in April as an investment and within a couple of months both existing tenants closed their businesses and we were left with an empty building,” says Chris. “It seems strange to say, but I had always wanted to try the pie business because it seems small, specialty cafes like this are getting more and more popular.” He adds, “When we realized we had also inherited a large freezer, kitchen equipment and convection oven, we decided to find something to do with all those resources.” Chris enlisted the help of Olivia, who has a BA in sociology from the University of Windsor, and within a few months they had transformed a former café and adjoining restaurant into a modern kitchen bakery and 20 seat café. “It’s been exciting to build it from the very beginning,” expresses Olivia, who also has a diploma in community and justice services from St. Clair College. “It’s a lot of work, but it goes by fast when it’s your own business.” The café serves seasonal fruit pies including apple, blueberry, strawberry, pear and lemon as well as savoury pies including ham, chicken and quiche — made with locallysourced ingredients.
Slices and small pies cost less than $4 and full pies range from $18 to $25. The Ryans are working on expanding the menu and building their clientele most of whom live in the immediate neighbourhood. The menu, which changes daily, weekly and seasonally, is posted on a digital board behind the café’s counter. “It will change on a regular basis so using a printed menu made little sense,” Chris notes. He indicates that his role is to help streamline the business processes in both the kitchen and bakery, but other than that, “this is Olivia’s business and I’m enjoying working with her.” Chris also works 15 hours a week at St. Clair College’s Genesis Entrepreneurship Innovation Centre advising students who are planning to open their own businesses. The décor in the café is clean and contemporary and even includes a table reclaimed from Ryan’s downtown pub. On the bakery side, expansive windows allow passersby to watch Bakers Natalie Maio and Sarah Baggio in action. “It’s a great area and I think we complement the mix along this stretch of Wyandotte,” says Chris. “We’ve been welcomed and we think there is ample potential for future growth.” Keep in touch with new items and more on their “Facebook” page under “Riverside Pie Café” and visit their location at 5560 Wyandotte Street East in Windsor for a snack or meal soon. Regular hours are Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The café is closed on Monday. B IZ X MA G A Z IN E • N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6
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