Last Thursday, March 28, a brand new COBS Bread bakery opened its doors for the first time in Cranbrook, thanks to the efforts of locals Rod and Tamara Duggan.
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“The public reception has just been incredible,” said Rod from across the counter on a busy Tuesday morning. “We’ve had amazing lineups and amazing support, because so many people know the brand from other places — Calgary and Vancouver — they’ve come here to have the wonderfulness of Cranbrook and they missed COBS Bakery along with a few other things, so we got it going and everybody’s been really, really happy.”
Between Rod, a journeyman automotive mechanic and Tamara, a social worker, who together also happen to own Tamarack Marijuana Boutique in Marysville, the two don’t actually have much experience in the world of baking.
“It’s basically science,” Rod said. “I just say we’re chemists because we’re taking neutral materials, adding energy to it, adding some products and coming out with a specified result, so we’re not bakers we’re chemists.”
Two years ago, they noticed a sign that indicated a franchise opportunity for a COBS location. The Duggans were looking for something to diversify their business, plus they are longtime fans of the brand, saying they bring an extra suitcase on trips to Vancouver to bring some COBS product home with them, and so they decided to explore the idea.
The idea began to pick up momentum, and after a hunt for the perfect location that had suitable power infrastructure, the former Quiznos location became available and that was that. From there it was off to an extensive four-month training program for Rod in Calgary and Vancouver.
“The training was really good,” he said. “Being away from home was not good, because how could you want to be anywhere other than Cranbrook, it’s beautiful here, but it was very intense.
“There was definitely some stress and some hard moments, but they walk you through and they understand and by the time you come out they say ‘you’re about 80 per cent ready to run your own store’ and the support from the franchise has just been over the top, they’ve been fantastic.”
Construction on the new location wound up coming to completion two weeks earlier than forecasted, and so Rod had to leave training for four days to come home and start hiring staff. Tamara explained that they didn’t necessarily look to hire individuals with baking or cooking experience, as the COBS training is so comprehensive.
“And to speak about the customer service staff,” Tamara said. “We got some very dedicated professional people that just want to make sure that the COBS experience that you have is very welcoming and that you get the top notch service and a top-notch product.”
“Both of us believe quite wholeheartedly in good customer service and greeting people when they come in and just making them feel at home,” Rod added, saying that they hope to evoke all five of their customers’ senses in their store.
COBS is originally based in Australia, and Rod explained that in Australia, a cob is slang for a loaf of bread, in England it’s a term for a friend, but in Canada, they say that it stands for “Canada’s own bread store.”
“it’s really amazing because the way they communicate, the way they problem solve, their business theories and ethics are really aligned really well with how Canadians operate,” he said.
Tamara explained that COBS has a very loyal customer base in part because they have a policy of made today, sold today.
“COBS doesn’t believe in any day-old sales because our product is that good that we want it to be enjoyed the day it’s purchased and the day it’s made,” she said.
This means that there is usually leftovers at the end of every day that they can’t sell the next. Fortunately, this allows them to donate all of that product to local charities, school lunch programs, outreach programs and community support programs, every day of the week, free of charge.
“COBS believes that we are supporting a strong community with a mandate that says give away the food because people need it,” Tamara said.
“To us that’s really important,” Rod added, “because every time we’ve had a business we’ve always really supported the community where the business exists.”
So if you haven’t already, make sure you stop by COBS bakery for some high quality, delicious food and wonderful customer service experience.
