Atome Bakery provides a unique bread and pastry delivery service, allowing customers to customize their pastry box or select from curated options. Their signature bread is delivered frozen and ready to bake in a specially designed Atome Pan, which replicates the baking environment of a professional oven. This innovative approach preserves the authenticity of artisanal bread, ensuring both convenience and exceptional taste and texture.

Alice’s journey with WeBC began when her mentor introduced her to the organization. Under her mentor’s guidance, Alice applied to WeBC’s loan program to support her company’s expansion into the U.S. With plans to scale up operations across the border, Alice outlined a strategy that involved investing in resources such as packaging materials, equipment upgrades, and expanding storage facilities. She was granted the loan and used WeBC’s financial support to pursue her goals of reaching new markets and replicating her successful business model in the U.S.

The loan from WeBC was more than just financial support for Alice’s business, it was a boost that allowed her to pursue her dreams of expansion, enabling her to seize new opportunities and move forward with confidence.

Client Q&A

Q: How did you come up with the idea for Atome Bakery?

A: If you’ve ever been to France, you know there is a bakery on every street. When my partner Lucas and I moved to Canada, our bread consumption had to change. The bread we found in supermarkets here were full of additives and sugar, and we were missing that taste from our childhood, so we decided to start baking.

Through trial and error, we experimented with freezing bread so we could have the convenience of fresh bread every day without the hassle or compromising on the quality. We even crafted a pan that helps the bread bake at a consistent temperature and humidity level.

From there, we had friends asking to buy our bread, and then people we didn’t know. We set up a simple website where people could place an order and pick it up at a local partner. We quickly outgrew the freezer space, so that’s when we decided to quit our jobs and focus on the business. In the spring of 2023, we switched the model to deliver directly to the customer’s door with a subscription box.

Q: Were you always interested in starting your own business?

A: I went to a Business School in Lyon, which is the capital of gastronomy and I’ve always had a very big passion for food. At school, I specialized in entrepreneurship because I’ve always been very curious about starting my own business. I wanted to make some kind of a difference and leave something behind me.

Having previously worked at La Maison du Chocolat, a chocolate shop, and a side business called Le Bocal Store, specializing in baking mixes packaged in jars, I’ve always had a love for baking. When Atome Bakery took off, we had to make a judgment call and decided to put our energy into making it successful.

Q: Can you share your experience with WeBC’s loan program?

I was taking a program called “Scale Up” which focuses on scaling up a business and building a business plan with WeBC’s partner organization, PARO and Farm Food Drink. I was assigned to a counsellor at the time, named Deborah, who is also part of the WeBC team. She was the one who shared the loan program and WeBC’s services.

When it was time for us to take out debt, I was looking at anything available for entrepreneurs. I loved that WeBC supports female entrepreneurs because we’re more than 50% women-owned. We were able to access a loan from WeBC and a loan from the WEOC Loan Program.

It was a lot of back and forth to get to the loan, and WeBC was supportive along the way. We were granted the loan and plan to use it to expand into the United States.

Q: What were the specific challenges you faced that the loan helped you overcome?

Our next move is expanding in the U.S., so we need cash flow to be able to buy more packaging in bulk and to ship our orders across the border.

One good thing about our business model is that we get the payment before we ship the product, but we still need to get ingredients, extra pans, and additional machinery like vacuum sealing. We’re also hoping to upgrade our freezer to have a better space to store all of the products.

Q: What are your future plans for Atome Bakery?

Our goal is to get 100 customers in the state of Washington and Portland, OR before the end of June. Once we’ve proven we can replicate the B.C. model in another state, we want to use the momentum and open in the rest of Oregon and California by Q4 of this year.

We’re also planning to raise a seed fund later this year, so if there are any investors out there they can reach out!

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Atome Bakery recently won the La Palme Bleue award for Enterprise of the Year, presented by the Vancouver Francophone Chamber of Commerce and they have been recognized as a local business making a significant impact on the Francophone community. Congrats to Alice and her team!

The post Alice Couderc, Atome Bakery, Vancouver appeared first on WeBC.

From a small 600 sq. ft. warehouse on Mitchell Island, BC to a state–of–the–art 12,500 sq. ft. food manufacturing facility in Port Coquitlam, it has been quite a fascinating growth journey. Red Dog Deli Raw Food Company is now recognized as a leader in the raw pet food industry in British Columbia.

Client Q&A

Q. What have your WeBC loans enabled you to do in your business?

A. My business encountered some financial challenges in 2011 and 2012 and our bank was not of much help. WeBC recognized our business challenges and helped us with their loan program. WeBC has also provided ongoing mentoring support and development opportunities to help me and my team succeed in business.

Q. What other services has WeBC provided you with and how have these services helped you?

A. WeBC organizes many very valuable events and training sessions. While I haven’t been able to attend as many of them as I would like to, I find the ones I did attend to be incredibly useful. Even if they cover a subject that I am comfortable with, I find that I always take something away that I can apply to my business. Furthermore, I find going to events organized by WeBC is always very inspiring for me because I meet so many other motivated and inspiring women, which I find very inspirational.

Q. What personal lessons have you learned as an entrepreneur?

A. The biggest lesson I have learned is that you are only as good as your team. It doesn’t matter how smart or competent you are, you cannot do everything. So a huge part of building a successful business is building a team around you that shares your vision, has a great attitude and has the skills to execute that vision.

And the other thing I learned is that once that team is in place, as a leader, I need to trust them to do their jobs and not micromanage them. The delegation was something I have struggled with but I realized that it is the most important skill that I need to master so my team can thrive.

The other thing I learned is that as an entrepreneur it is important to have mentors that can support you and help you navigate the challenges you face as a business owner.  As an owner of a business, you are often alone and taking most of the risk – it’s very important to have someone who you can talk to, and vent to, and someone that you know has your back when you are in a tough spot.

Q. What are your major successes? At what point did you feel you had achieved success?

A. In the past year, my company has undergone many changes including getting an investor, moving to a new larger facility, redefining our brand look and message, setting up a board of directors, and much more.

In many ways it felt like we were starting all over from the beginning, reviewing every aspect of the business to make sure it served our future growth. There were also a lot of changes in my team.  The first year, these changes felt chaotic and scary and while we were busy and getting a lot done, it didn’t feel like a success.

One thing I realized is that while we were implementing changes, the team I had in place at the time was not really excited about these changes and the direction we were going and that had a huge impact on the energy of the business. Even though we had moved mountains, it didn’t feel like a win because nobody other than me was celebrating.

In the past 6 months, my team has gone through a transformation and the attitude of the new team members has completely transformed the energy of the company and is aligned with my growth goals. With this new energy, the business has really started to grow and transform in the past 4-6 months and it is feeling like a huge win!  I feel like while we still have a steep road to climb and many challenges to overcome, they no longer feel insurmountable.

Some major successes I feel are worth mentioning in this period were:

• Completing the build of the new facility in March 2017
• Completing rebranding for the company in 2018
• Positioning the company successfully for co-packing opportunities
• Hitting our sales targets for 3 months in a row (Oct-Dec 2018)
• Improving the energy of the team

Q. What is your greatest strength as an entrepreneur?

A. My greatest strength is my ability to stay positive and focused through challenges and hard times, and continually look at doing the right thing in all circumstances.

Q. What are your goals for the business?

A. My goal is to build Red Dog Deli into a national Canadian producer of quality raw and natural food for dogs and cats. My goals are to:

• help pets live longer and healthier lives
• improve, evolve and expand our educational initiatives with our retail partners
• expand our manufacturing capacity
• work with veterinarians to develop specialty veterinary lines/formulas
• grow our private label division for retail stores and national chains
• become certified so that we can move into international markets
• increase sales to grocery outlets

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She started Foxy Box in 2012 when she found the need for a go-to place to be waxed in the Victoria area. What began as a home-based spa turned into a successful business and now employs 40 women from 2 beautiful Island Locations.

Foxy Box has just unleashed its marketing for Franchise Recruitment and is on a mission to inspire and empower women to celebrate their uniqueness and rock what they’ve got from Vancouver Island to across Canada and eventually the globe over.

Client Q&A

Q. What services has WeBC provided you and how have these services helped you?

A. My WeBC business advisor has been more than a delight to work with! She was just as excited about my business as I was and helped walk me through every step of getting my loan approved. Finally, I was able to build my dream flagship storefront location.

WeBC has offered guidance in areas that I didn’t feel super confident in, such as finances. They held a seminar where other female business owners could all sit in and discuss a glossary of financial terms to help us feel more confident in our leadership. I have recently applied to become a Mentor for other females in the beauty industry as well. I believe the more you can surround yourself with like-minded individuals the more you can learn from one another. I, along with most entrepreneurs, have made a lot of mistakes in my time as a business owner and I’d love the opportunity to share these experiences with someone new to the industry to hopefully catch some slip-ups before making them themselves.

Q. What personal lessons have you learned as an entrepreneur?

A. I am constantly learning in this life of an entrepreneur. The biggest personal lessons I’ve taken from this venture are as follows;

1. It is important to draw a line between friendship and business.
2. I have also realized the importance of not getting too emotionally involved in my business, it is important to not take everything personally. Look at every situation with a logical mind instead of an emotional one.  Although emotion is what creates the brand, it is not necessarily the best leader in making big decisions.
3. Another important lesson has been to create a proper work-life balance. It’s so important to have ‘YOU’ time. Without this, there is no fire behind my brand. Now, I regularly check in with myself, recognize when I need a break and take care of myself.

Q. What are your major successes? At what point did you feel you had achieved success?

A. I know it sounds cliche but it’s important to recognize success at every little step.  If you’re not taking a step back to look at your accomplishments and see how far you’ve come, you can easily lose focus or drive.  Do your regular check-ins and take a minute to pat yourself on the back sister.

The first time I achieved success was when I moved my business away from my home to my own retail location. From there, being able to hire a team of rockstars which allowed me to work on my business instead of in my business was a huge success for me.

Being able to open multiple locations with the profits of my one store was a huge milestone.  The next big hoorah will be when we find the right franchise partners. Don’t forget to see where you came from and celebrate… if you can’t celebrate each step along the way, what’s the point of success?

Q. What is your greatest strength as an entrepreneur?

A. My people skills. If you are excited about your brand it’s easy to pump up your staff and create a beautiful atmosphere. I treat my staff with kindness and respect and in turn, it creates a warm and welcoming environment for my clients and my staff.

Q. What are your goals for the business?

A. My goal is to be the number one beauty franchise to invest in and work for in Canada by 2025.

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