The Ouimette family has put the “oui” in the Café Oui. It’s the first privately owned café for Chelmsford, in the northwest side of the city.
“We made business predictions for the first six months and already exceeded those projections after two months with our doors open,” Mandeigh Ouimette said.
Mandeigh is one of the four owners, the others being her husband, Rick, and her mother and father-in-law, Fran and Butch. All of the Ouimettes hail from Chelmsford and all have experience working in customer service.
“I’ve been wanting to do this for the last five years. We just needed to get the men on board,” Mandeigh said.
Oui Café offers customers cozy, comfortable décor with a warm, country kitchen, and rustic feel with mismatched wooden chairs.
It’s a much prettier backdrop for customers from the old mechanic and hot tub shops it once housed on Errington Avenue near the Crazy Horse and across from the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 553.
But it’s more than just a café. The Oui also offers a full submarine sandwich shop, too, reminiscent of Elsa’s Subs, a Chelmsford blast from the past.
Mandeigh admits she spends a lot of time training staff in these early months, but when she has a break and hunger pangs are setting in, she likes her iced caramel macchiato or iced latte, paired with a caesar salad and a meatball sub.
With Mandeigh being a serious lover of all things java, Oui Café is being supplied with beans from Espanola Coffee Roasters.
“All pastry and desserts are from Cakes by Mel and Regency Bakery. Bread for subs is from Regency with greens from Verdant Field Farms down the road,” she said.
After school and after work is another peak period for the café with ice cream sales. Ice cream flavours are being supplied by Farquar’s Dairy in Espanola and Central Smith Creamery near Peterborough.
“The motto is to truly keep it local and always fresh.”
Mandeigh said customers are also really enjoying the nostalgia of the old chuck wagon sandwich with its cold cuts laid out on fresh Regency bread.
“I think it reminds them of their days at the arena,” she laughed.
This month, the Ouimette’s added a new feature to Café Oui, an on-site rental space for birthday parties, baby showers and other events for about 50 people.
“Chelmsford really needed this. It’s a safe and comfy zone. That is the feedback we are getting from customers. With fall coming, we are thinking of students looking for a place to do homework, board game nights, craft nights and book club nights,” Mandeigh said.
With the turning of the leaves and the seasons, they are unsure what fall will bring, but they do have big plans complete with warm drinks, hearty soups and chilis.
Café Oui is open for customers from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday. Hours are shorter on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Find Café Oui on Facebook.
Anastasia Rioux is a writer in Greater Sudbury. Let’s Eat! is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
