Destination: The Canadian Buttertart Factory

By Adelle Ellis, Times Reporter

Leah Lalonde is on her second rolling pin in 23 years. In that time, she has handmade over one million butter tarts – all of them from her grandmother’s recipe and by using the same tart cutter that she got 23 years ago.
Lalonde, who has four children, comes from a family of bakers; although she never thought she would be a baker herself.
“My grandma always baked, but I don’t remember ever baking with her or my mom … I never thought I would be a baker. But that one day I picked it up and it was my first time making pastry,” said Lalonde, recalling that first day that changed everything.
When Lalonde and her young family still lived in Ontario, with their third baby still in a baby bouncer, one random day she picked up her grandmother’s butter tart recipe. She had never made butter tarts before – or baked anything for that matter – and made her husband some tarts to take to work. That night, her husband informed her that his coworkers loved her tarts and that some people even wanted to place orders.
The idea was born.
Lalonde started catering and creating custom Christmas baking plates before supplying a medical centre kiosk with her homemade meat pies, muffins, tarts and squares to sell, and spending her weekends selling baked goods at markets.
Then in 2010 in Campbellford, Ont., Lalonde decided to quit her day job at Sears and open up a butter tart factory.
Her friends thought she was crazy but little did they know she hit the jackpot.
Lalonde is lucky enough to be blessed with a creative spirit, expert taste buds and a determination to do better each day, all backed up with the incentive of helping provide for her family.
“When I first started, I had it all figured out. I was going to make and sell 10 dozen tarts a day and then I could just sit there and drink tea; and as people came in I would visit with them – that was my plan, it was the perfect job,” said Lalonde laughing.
“So, the first day I made 10 dozen tarts and I sold out. The next day I made 20 dozen and I sold out. The next week I had to hire somebody because it just went crazy… we would sell 30 dozen in two hours easy,” she said, adding that at one point she had two stores and a wholesale business open.
Lalonde’s record is hand-making 160 dozen, or 1,920 single butter tarts in one day, and selling out of every single one.
She soon realized that was a pace that even her determined self couldn’t keep up with and she decided to get rid of the two stores, and eventually sold her wholesale, before moving to Alberta in 2015.
After working at a golf course for two years, Lalonde decided to once again start selling her tarts at farmer’s markets. She was unsure how an Alberta consumer base would accept her tarts. However, she had nothing to worry about, and during last summer’s Millarville market, she sold out of 50 dozen tarts in two hours.
Her success led her to make the decision to once again open up The Canadian Buttertart Factory. Her shop is set to open in Strathmore on Third Avenue in the old Music Centre Canada building.
The shop was originally supposed to open sometime in February, but following several permitting setbacks, including the building not having a properly separated furnace and firewall, and not having the correct development permit, Lalonde now hopes to get all the necessary renovations and permitting completed to open sometime in May or June.
To cover the costs of some of the renovations, Lalonde has opened an ATB BoostR account where fellow butter tart lovers can donate and pre-order tart packages. The first 150 donors will also receive some free swag, all with the goal of helping to get her business up and running quicker.
Once The Canadian Buttertart Factory opens, Lalonde predicts there will be approximately 20 different flavours of butter tarts on the menu at any given time, with some flavours changing as the seasons change.
Fan favourite flavours include pecan, peanut butter chocolate, triple chocolate, coconut, cranberry white chocolate, caramelized banana, raspberry coconut and pumpkin, alongside some more daring flavours such as bacon, sweet heat (cream cheese and hot peppers) and Elvis (peanut butter and banana).
The secret however, is in the pastry.
“In Campbellford, we were a destination. People would come to town just for the butter tart factory,” said Lalonde. “Butter tarts are special because they are truly Canadian … I want to make this a destination.”
The shop will also feature coffee, muffins and squares along with a daily homemade soup and sandwich special.
Lalonde plans on doing all the baking in the back of the shop, where she will be able to bake eight dozen butter tarts in 40 minutes, while her eldest daughter will be running the front of the shop and her younger daughter will be working several markets on the weekends.
“For 23 years I’ve managed to pay the bills with butter tarts and it’s so fun … that would be the dream – to pass it down,” said Lalonde. “If I can make a living doing something I enjoy – this is one thing my grandmother always said – if you can get paid for doing something you enjoy, that’s what you need to do.”
For more information on The Canadian Buttertart Factory, the BoostR program or to follow up on when the store will open, visit facebook.com/buttertartfactory.