ACE Bakery Launches Artisan Incubator, For The Love Of Food

June 11, 2013


Artisan Incubator for ACE BakeryWe all love food, and as part of a new campaign, ACE Bakery will be launching Canada’s first Artisan Incubator, a celebration of the joys of artisan food, the importance of local, sustainable food producers and the vital contributions artisan entrepreneurs make to communities across Canada.  It is also a special milestone for ACE Bakery as they celebrate their 20th anniversary and have enlisted the help of Toronto-based agency We Are Tonic to come up with the creative for the campaign.

And from the initial concept, putting out a call for artisans, selecting top Canadian Tastemakers (including well-known Canadian chefs), employing media and social media to create a variety of consumer engagement touch points along the way, creating website content to event planning to produce a three-day event filled with public workshops and discussions with the artisans, and a Showcase event, We are Tonic has been at the helm every step of the way, from concept to execution.

With a modest budget, We Are Tonic were able to leverage it to:

  • Bring on a media partner (Food Network, who helped create three :15 spots (see below) to promote this program and event) and an overall sponsor (BMO Financial Group who work with and support local businesses and artisans in communities across Canada)
  • Utilize high use of social media and geo-targeted digital ads (on a variety of websites including Food Network and a range of food blog and food interest websites to engage consumers
  • Create an 8-page insert appearing in the June 12th issue of the Globe and Mail (Ontario region, June 19th for the rest of Canada) which will profile the top 20 artisans, including recipes, along with ticket information for the two-day event and the background story about The ACE Bakery Artisan Incubator.

Hundreds of artisans expressed interest in participating in the culinary showcase when it was first announced at the beginning of the year. Since then, a top 20 have been selected by the Tastemakers, ACE Bakery and We Are Tonic to come to Toronto for this unique two-day showcase, including workshops and panel discussions, on June 20-22. They’ll be given national exposure through media advertising and coverage, and have the opportunity to share in the industry insights ACE Bakery has gained over the last 20 years.  ACE hopes to help them achieve success while also drawing attention to the thousands of hard-working artisans who put their heart and soul into everything they make.

“When my husband and I started the journey of creating ACE Bakery 20 years ago, we were very lucky to have a mentor who owned his own artisan bakery in New York,” explained Linda Haynes, Co-Founder of ACE Bakery and author of The ACE Bakery Cookbooks.  “He believed in what we were trying to do, especially around our community investment, so he went as far as to train some of our bakers, help us find used equipment and he even shared some of his recipes with us.  Now it’s ACE’s turn to pay it forward and help other talented Canadian artisans in a similar way.”

Two of the artisans will be selected by ACE Bakery to receive further business development opportunities with their guidance.


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Dave Forde


Dave “The Connector” Forde has been involved in the marketing, public relations and technology industry across Canada for over 15 years in various sales and marketing roles, he launched The Connected One network of business sites which connects buyers to the right sellers. Profectio and PR In Canada covers news about the marketing and public relations industry each day helping professionals advance their career and businesses.
He also serves as an advisor to a number of businesses across the country. Find Dave on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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