For so long as Erin Eire can bear in mind, she has adored animals and ardently sought out scrumptious meals, however it wasn’t till nearly 10 years in the past that her two biggest passions harmoniously collided.
Now, the proprietor of To Dwell For, a brand new plant-based bakery & café, she is dedicated to channeling her love for all dwelling issues into creating vegan pastries and making them as accessible as doable to her native Vancouver neighborhood.
Courtesy of Erin Eire
Starting her profession as a meals reporter whose suggestions suited carnivores rather more than the plant-based neighborhood, Eire garnered a considerable readership and following on social media lengthy earlier than her vegan values emerged.
Throughout this time, she additionally kick-started her baking journey: crafting the primary recipes for her now-legendary banana bread and lemon loaves, buying area in a commissary kitchen, and attracting over 70 wholesale clients.
For the love of animals
On the age of 30, Eire’s journey to a dairy farm for a piece project and her subsequent viewing of Shaun Monson’s Earthlings introduced her to an moral standstill. After witnessing the behind-the-scenes actuality of animal agriculture, her animal-lover instincts and meat-heavy food plan have been immediately, basically, and painfully at odds.
After months of grappling with find out how to align her newfound values along with her rising on-line viewers and baked items firm, Eire determined to strive a stealthy method. First, she fell quiet about her wholesale treats on-line and went to work adjusting her recipes.
Courtesy of Erin Eire
As soon as she’d efficiently rid them of animal merchandise, Eire merely emailed her distributors to inform them she’d made “some modifications” and to “see connected” concerning the brand new recipes. “No one requested any questions; I didn’t lose any clients,” she says.
From there, Eire’s passionate perception in plant-based baking took maintain, and the seeds for To Dwell For Bakery & Café solidified their roots.
Bakery and past
When strolling into Eire’s shiny and bustling East Vancouver area, clients are greeted by a heartwarming wall-sized mural of two rescue cows. “They’re why we do what we do,” Eire says, reminiscing about that first journey to a dairy farm. Befittingly, the café’s to-go cups are printed with a graphic of a cow and Eire’s rescue canine, Effie, that prompts: “Why love one, however eat the opposite?” Eire’s highly effective vegan ethics are grounded in care, neighborhood, and anti-speciesm, and he or she prides herself in practising precisely what she preaches.
Courtesy of Erin Eire
The mom of two rescue canines in addition to two younger kids, Eire warmly refers to To Dwell For’s brick-and-mortar as her “fifth youngster.” “After I’m not right here, I wish to be right here,” she says.
Since opening up store, she has devoted herself to being as current as doable in its development—fairly actually, as she’s within the bakery recipe testing, cake adorning, studying to be a barista, creating social media content material, and serving clients nearly day by day since opening.
What does a day within the lifetime of such a busy, plant-powered superwoman appear like? Although she admits she loves spontaneity and embraces days which are “filled with surprises,” Eire states she has come to cherish probably the most customary duties and moments in her day by day routine.
Courtesy of Erin IrelandCourtesy of Erin Eire
6:30am to 9am: The bakery is just about at all times on her thoughts, Eire confesses, however when she first wakes up, her priorities are getting herself and her children prepared for the day and ensuring her two pups, Effie and Suri, get in a very good stroll.
“I’m such a morning individual,” Eire professes. “For years I’d stand up tremendous early to go for a run, go to a espresso store, and be house earlier than my companion wakened … now life is totally different.”
“I’m embracing slower mornings due to how valuable this time is with my children—watching them get up is one among my day’s highlights.”
Each morning, Eire whips up her personal tackle a London fog tea sweetened with a wholesome dose of maple syrup and a beneficiant splash of Earth’s Personal Barista Oat Milk. For her children, it’s time for three-ingredient pancakes or “daddy avocado toast”—avocado and tofu mashed collectively on toast.
9am: After dropping off her six-year-old daughter Roen in school, Eire spends the morning with River, her three-year-old. As soon as per week, Eire arms off her youngest to the grandparent-on-duty for additional bonding time earlier than she’s dropped off again on the bakery.
9:30am to 2:45pm: If it’s not one among her two days off (or it’s, however somebody on her workers wanted their shift coated), Eire arrives on the bakery and instantly shares a video on Instagram of the cake fridge and the pastry counter, stocked with the day’s scrumptious choices.
Courtesy of Erin Eire
Subsequent, she checks in with the bakery and front-of-house groups, replies to @tolivefor.bakery’s Instagram messages and Google opinions, has conferences with the bakery’s managers, and begins aiding clients.
3pm: Eire vacates the bakery briefly to go choose up her eldest daughter from college, then heads straight again so each women can take pleasure in their favourite snack. Proper now, it’s a ache au chocolat for Roen and a cake pop for River.
4pm: The entire household heads house and Eire begins fascinated with dinner. If it’s an order-in sort of evening, her favourite restaurant in the mean time is Aleph Eatery. “They do wonderful Center Jap meals,” she raves. “I like ordering their shish kebab bowl for takeout. It’s received marinated soy curls on rice with pickled issues, hummus, and roasted potatoes.”
5pm: If she nonetheless has the vitality left, Eire begins dinner prep. Ideally, she has a brand new recipe in thoughts to strive, however some days it’s extra of a fridge-clean-out scenario—roasting all of their getting old veggies and tofu to pile atop a grain and drizzle with sauce.
Courtesy of Erin Eire
When she’s not making an attempt a brand new recipe or guaranteeing nothing goes to waste, Eire returns to household staples: Greek potatoes, tofu souvlaki, Greek salad, or spaghetti with marinara loaded with veggies and vegan grounds.
If she’s in want of components, Eire rallies her pups for a fast stroll to her neighborhood produce market.
6pm: Relying on the climate, Eire and her household spend the remainder of the night lounging round the home or at a playground the place the native children like to assemble after dinner. On stunning summer time nights, it’s nearly at all times the latter!
Courtesy of Erin Eire
7pm to 11pm: The gears begin to gradual and Eire readies her children for mattress. Ideally, her daughters are asleep by 8pm, however she confesses they’ve been fairly the evening owls not too long ago.
As she waits for them to float off, Eire joins them in mattress to take heed to a storytime podcast. She at all times makes certain to brush her canines’ tooth and get herself prepared for mattress beforehand simply in case she drifts off as effectively (she admits this occurs fairly typically).
If she doesn’t go to sleep, Eire sneaks away for kid-free time along with her fur infants and husband, Darren, often ending the evening watching a present on the sofa or speaking about their plans for the bakery.
Connecting along with her neighborhood
In some methods, To Dwell For has pushed Eire and her workers utterly out of their consolation zones. In others, it has felt like a return to house. Having labored within the hospitality business for 9 years in her youth, Eire admits she has a ardour for customer support. “I like making these in-person connections with folks,” she says. “It’s so particular to speak to folks … and meet different fellow passionate vegans and vegan households.”
Courtesy of Erin Eire
That being stated, she acknowledges there’s been a “big studying curve” to transitioning her wholesale enterprise right into a storefront operation. Primarily, she’s felt somewhat annoyed making an attempt to determine how a lot of all the pieces to make every day, and the way issues like holidays will affect their gross sales.
Nonetheless, she is joyful to be on the café serving to out as a lot as doable and figuring issues out along with her staff. “It’s enjoyable to work with the workers,” she attests. “I feel it helps after they see how a lot I care.”
Eire additionally plans to increase her assist to others in her neighborhood via a vegan mentorship program, taking over “a couple of pre-vegans monthly,” and being “obtainable to them each week to assist them on their vegan journeys by answering questions and offering assets” (observe her on Instagram to get updates on this thrilling alternative).
Courtesy of Erin Eire
To Dwell For Bakery & Café is positioned within the Grandview-Woodland space of East Vancouver, and has been accepting guests with open arms since November of 2022. If you happen to’re planning a visit, be warned: you’ll need one among all the pieces. We’re speaking flaky sausage rolls, seasonal croissants, chive and cheese scones, summer time soft-serve, cinnamon rolls coated in candied walnuts, and their best-selling croissant breakfast sandwich that includes Simply Egg, Violife cheese, and many arugula—all washed down with a creamy matcha, soiled chai, or iced caramel latte.
If the down-and-around-the-block line that continues to assemble each weekend is something to go by, To Dwell For’s mission—to show that plant-based meals will be simply as scrumptious (if not extra scrumptious) than conventional baked items and pastries—is already a triumph.
Eire and her staff are dedicated to wowing their neighborhood and past as they proceed to develop their menu and deal with their doggy regulars with the identical care and enthusiasm as their human counterparts.
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