Sheila’s first career was being a mother of four daughters, and she did not open the Upper Crust Café until she was forty. Initially the business began by selling baked goods at the farmer’s market with a friend. When these proved to be a success, her and her friend opened the restaurant with intentions of it being a small little café and tea house. Today, Upper Crust Café has tripled in size and has established itself as a popular lunch spot.

1. When did you first become interested in working with food?
My interest in food began as an enforced interest. In my family, believe me, I had to help. I think it’s the biggest joke of my family that I would have ended up being a cook. But I got used to helping and used to seeing it done.
I think I always just wanted to be a mom. Running a business like this is rather like being a mom. Making sure everyone gets fed, making sure the staff is happy.
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“In my early 20s I realized quite clearly that I didn’t have the dedication to be the actor that I wanted to be, whereas, as a waiter I enjoyed what I was able to accomplish. It’s very much like being on stage. You have your section that you’re entertaining and informing. I really did approach each night as an opening night. Maybe that sounds really hokey but that’s the way I looked at it.”

Patrick Saurette wanted to be an actor when he grew up. His mother advised him to become involved in the hospitality industry so that he would have the skills to feed himself. Not only did he learn to feed himself, Patrick discovered he was also able to apply his acting abilities by working as a waiter.

1. When were you first interested in the restaurant business?

My mother happened to be working for a catering company in Edmonton, so I started doing catering. I worked with a European trained gentleman that taught me an awful lot. We did a lot of interesting catering for consuls that were still here in Edmonton and I even had the opportunity of doing a luncheon with Princess Margaret. We had some pretty interesting guests that we were helping entertain and I caught the bug from that. The wonderful thing about the business is you can take it on the road and do it everywhere. That was when I really became interested in it because I enjoyed the people and the flexibility. I was probably 15, 16 at the time.

I’m 42 now and I like to say that I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. Am I spinning my wheels, I don’t think so. I really enjoy what I’m doing still, but in my role now I’m a coach, rather than an actor. I’m still acting as a host, but now my more important role is to steer the ship.

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“I went to Italy in May for a cooking trip and was away for May, June and July. I visited Syria and I got married…I saw her striking green eyes and said, “Oh wow, who’s that?” We got introduced, hit it off and I extended my one month visit to three months and we got married. I had no idea my little cooking trip was going to turn into a marriage.”Joe’s parents left Lebanon in 1976 when the civil war broke out. He was born in Lebanon in 1972. Recently, Joe went back to the Middle East where he fell in love with a Syrian woman. Since in Syria there is no courting, the relationship proceeded quickly to a marriage and Joe’s mother was flown in to meet the family. The wedding was held in Syria, and now as the citizenship paperwork takes a few months to process, Joe eagerly waits for his new bride.

1. When did you first become interested in the restaurant business?

My mom worked for Grant MacEwan College as a head chef. Then, because of her bad English she couldn’t go any further than that. I truly believe that if she had become a manager for that company, this restaurant wouldn’t have come about. (more…)

Ever since she was a young girl, Carole has demonstrated an interest in cooking. Her parents picked up on her passion, and so when it came to gifts, her siblings would receive matching sweaters while Carole was given cookbooks. Carole recalls a specific Christmas when this same trend occurred yet again. In a flurry of rage after opening her suspiciously cookbook-shaped gift, Carole threw the book across the room. She was thirteen at the time, and spent the rest of Christmas Eve in her room. Carole now refers to this as “The Day of the Flying Cookbook.”

1. When were you first interested in the restaurant business?

I started working in the food industry at 15. I went to university but was always involved in the industry and was somehow drawn to a little café called Le Petit Marche in 1996 and I bought it.

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