Corbeaux Bakehouse suddenly closes café, will keep on baking

Calgary’s Corbeaux Bakehouse stunned locals when they announced they’d be closing their popular 17th Ave SW café-style restaurant on Saturday, November 28. It’s not entirely bad news, though: Corbeaux will keep on baking, and their goodies will be available at Fratello Coffee‘s Analog locations.

Corbeaux’s Chris and Russ Prefontaine made the revelation on the same day they were ceasing operations, and explained the move in a heartfelt note shared on their website. The Prefontaines say this was a “business decision that has been weighing on us for some time,” adding: “Continuing on is just not financially feasible for our company.”

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Having gone full-throttle just over a year ago with not only their baked goods but also a sit-down restaurant one-stop-shop in the ex-Melrose Cafe location, Corbeaux drew lines for their baked goods, but also suffered from service issues and a bit of chaos in organization, according to customers.

A table filled with your favourite baked goods made fresh in house plus handcrafted coffees. Baking fresh is important to us just as we know eating fresh is important to you.

A photo posted by Corbeaux (@corbeauxbakery) on Nov 27, 2015 at 8:12am PST

The Prefontaine brothers noted in their farewell letter:

We know that the closure of the Bakehouse comes as a surprise, especially to anyone who has seen the bustle in front of the bakery case and the long lines for weekend brunch, but from an economic point of view, retiring the Bakehouse was the only sensible option.

Corbeaux’s Culinary Director, Keith Luce–brought on as part of the Corbeaux restaurant experiment–will stay on and head up their baking efforts. The brothers say they intend to focus the Corbeaux brand on wholesale and catering business.

Still, fans are sad:

@CorbeauxBake So sad to hear this! Many great memories of fantastic brunches, coffee, and pastries.

— Karen Styles (@yyc_karen) November 29, 2015

Corbeaux closed 😭

— ✭Kelsey Marks✭⋆ (@KelseyMarks14) November 30, 2015

The fact Corbeaux is has shut down honestly just ruined my Sunday

— bre (@BreAngerilli) November 29, 2015

@ CALGARIANS: CORBEAUX IS CLOSING????? WTF??? WHY?? SOMEONE BUY ME A HAZELNUT CAKE AND FREEZE IT

— erin (@rindeer) November 29, 2015

@CorbeauxBake so sad!! You will be missed.

— OCL Studios (@OCLStudios) November 29, 2015

Why is Corbeaux Bakehouse shutting down 😩😩😩😩

— Chantal (@Chantall__) November 30, 2015

AW CORBEAUX CLOSED DOWN FOR GOOD

— cindy (@lilmissly_) November 29, 2015

Can't believe Corbeaux closed down. White people loved to take Instagram pictures of their food there.

— nancy america (@nancyamerica) November 29, 2015