You all know I adore Ina Garten. From her style, sense of humour, grace, and, of course, her wholesome recipes. And funnily enough, after reading Ina’s memoir, we have a lot more in common than I thought. From a challenging upbringing to running a food business, our love for Paris, to being ready for when the luck happens… however, I’m still waiting for the luck part!
When I used to be a flight attendant, I once worked with another cabin crew member who sold fruit crumbles at her local farmers market on the weekends, raking in at least $1,000 a day. She did Saturdays and Sundays, every week. Talk about a payday! Now, as a brand-new flight attendant, that extra cash sounded delightful. So delightful, I had to teach myself how to bake, and fast. For about a year, I watched reruns of The Barefoot Contessa on my layovers and finally got up the courage to apply to our local Vancouver farmers market, which sounds simple enough, right? Turns out it was incredibly competitive. Who knew!
After dropping off some of my favourite Ina-Garten-inspired pastries that were going to be “blind-tested,” I had never felt more nervous! Of course, I made brownies, chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, lemon ricotta cake, and, of course, her beloved tomato tart amongst other things. Turns out they loved everything and invited us back for an interview. To make a long story short, we were invited to become vendors at our local market—the Dude Chilling Park location, to be exact.
I’ll never forget the thrill of our first market. Triet and I baked for 12 hours straight and maybe slept for 3 or 4 hours that night. We were up at 4 a.m. to bake off our cinnamon buns and add on any finishing touches to the pastries we had made on the “graveyard” shift, loaded my Volkswagen Jetta, hit the road, set up our “booth,” played my favourite jazz playlist (that I still play at Mon Pitou to this day), and the rest was history. The market opened at 10 a.m., and we were sold out by 11.
Talk about a rush! To my surprise, everyone loved how we had displayed our pastries, the ambiance we had set with the music, and the branding—which, of course, featured our beloved English bulldog, Ru.
After four years of doing back-to-back farmers markets in Vancouver—every weekend, summer, winter, fall, spring, rain or shine, wind or drought—we were there. Some days were great, and some were terrible. The cold ones were the worst. No one wanted to leave their home to walk a farmers market, and I don’t blame them! The worst part about bringing home all the leftover pastries? We had to eat them… That got old fast. Whatever we didn’t sell, we handed out to the homeless downtown, which always felt nice knowing nothing would go to waste. The cheers we got anytime we pulled up to our “corner” of soon-to-be “East Hastings regulars” somehow felt so rewarding.
After years of flying for work and doing markets, Triet working in biotech from 9-5 and then coming home to bake starting on the Wednesday before our first Saturday market, we knew this was what we wanted to pursue full-time at some point in our lives. At this point, it started to become our little dream to open up our very own “specialty food store,” just like my girl Ina.
Triet and I were 27 when we opened Mon Pitou, which sounds outrageous as I write. Did I mention we opened on February 6, 2021, right smack in the middle of winter, in the middle of a pandemic with no restaurant experience other than running a tent at a farmers market??? What were we thinking!
Let me tell you about our name and why it holds such deep meaning. Mon Pitou was the nickname my beloved grandmother Gabrielle called me—or Gabbi, as those closest to her called her—a term of endearment that captured the warmth and closeness we shared. My grandmother was a woman of unparalleled grace and elegance, a true embodiment of kindness and fairness. She had a rare gift for making everyone feel instantly at ease in her presence, as though they belonged right where they were. Her hands were always busy crafting something beautiful or baking something delightful, and her selflessness knew no bounds; she always placed the needs of others before her own. She was my guiding light, the maternal figure I looked up to, and her influence continues to shape who I am today. Tragically, she passed away from cancer at the age of 56 when I was just 12, but her spirit lives on in everything I do. Mon Pitou is more than a name; it is a tribute to her legacy of love, creativity, and unyielding grace.
Now let me take you back to our opening date; I remember it like it was yesterday.
We had purchased an existing restaurant from a woman who was ready to retire and was probably hit hard by COVID-19. The time felt right for me for some reason, and so was the price.
Circle back to April 2020: I had accepted an early retirement package from WestJet, the airline I had worked with since I was 18, and had been “retired” for nearly a year before opening the shop. Luckily, I was able to work very part-time at two different food businesses in town: one café, and one little Italian shop that was a mixed concept of premium-grocer and café, which was exactly what I intended on opening—so it was a great learning experience.
I had originally intended to open and work at Mon Pitou alone, with the help of 2 or 3 employees. Turns out, the joke was on me. Triet had taken a week of holidays to help open the store, which we announced over Instagram the night before we’d be open the following morning (because we were waiting on the City of Vancouver to provide us with our business license, which was a nightmare but we can save that story for another time). We did our first team huddle, I turned the music on, opened the blinds, and we, honest-to-God, had a line-up out the door that lasted over three hours. We were sold out of pastries within the first hour. Luckily, we also had a small menu available for guests and a really small amount of local-imported goods like canned tomatoes, Iberico ham, and gorgeous Spanish tinned fish, to name a few.
Ask me why anyone would wait in the cold to come into our crazy little shop! To this day, Triet and I are forever grateful for the support we’ve gotten from the community since day one. All I had intended to do was create a cozy, European-feeling food store where people could come in, enjoy a quick meal, or take away meals to enjoy later. Turns out, we did create a bit of a monster, but not the worst kind. If you’ve been into the space, you probably know how busy things get. We are, thankfully, still busy from the moment we open at 7:30 in the morning until we close at 7 p.m. in the evening, four years later. Now, running a business is certainly not all it’s cracked up to be, as there is never, ever, a dull moment—especially in this curious city we call home—although we couldn’t see ourselves doing anything else at this point in time.
The concept of the store has shifted slightly over the years to adapt to daily challenges, and this year, we’ll be making even more changes to truly streamline the store in order for Triet and me to “hopefully” take a bit of a step back and focus on our expansion plan. Challenging times are ahead with the economy and politics being the way they are; however, we are optimistic and proud of the brand we’ve created and hope to open additional locations with slightly varied concepts, depending on where we open them, of course.
When we first opened, we had a big focus on our bistro menu, consisting of fabulous French-inspired breakfast and lunch dishes, as we were eagerly awaiting approval for our liquor license. Fast forward six months, after we had spent tens of thousands of dollars, our application was denied, which was a major blow to the original concept we had in mind: being a small wine and cocktail bar in the evening that served classic-bistro fare with our own spin on things. Turns out, it wasn’t in the cards, which is why our concept is the way it is today.
We currently have a small dine-in menu, with more focus on our house-made pastries, grab-and-go lunches like sandwiches and salad bowls, and our ready-made take-home meals. We’re planning on shifting slightly away from our made-to-order bistro dishes throughout the week, as we’d like our manpower to focus on our grocery + take-home meals program rather than focusing on the bistro side of things. We’ll keep our service the same on the weekends, serving our guests the classic brunch dishes they’ve come to love.
That’s enough about the nitty-gritty; let’s talk about what’s in store for the future and what we have cooking up right now.
The concept of Mon Pitou was to blend three concepts in one: a premium grocer, bakery, and bistro. To my amazement, I think that’s what people adore most about the space. It’s a very personal brand that holds a lot of meaning for Triet and me. My name is on the door, our first English bulldog Ru is seen everywhere from our packaging to the bottom of our coffee mugs, the music playlist we’ve been curating since our farmers market days, and the food products we sell and serve are truly all of our favourite things. From spreads and oils we’ve been buying for years from the Bon Marché in Paris to a slightly adapted banana bread recipe I adored that my aunt used to make for me on the regular.
I’ve been cooking up another brand behind the scenes, and I’m so excited that the day is almost here that we finally launch. I like to consider Mon Pitou as sort of a “one-stop shop,” where you can come in, have a fabulous catch-up over lunch with a friend, grab dinner to go, and pick up a little gift for the friend you’ll be meeting over the weekend.
And finally, I’m thrilled to share a little project I’ve been working on—a lifestyle brand inspired by all my favourite things. I’m sort of using the same concept with Jonathon Hawes, my middle and last name, because I think it sounds much more grown-up than naming it Jesse Hawes. Jesse sounds like the 14-year-old who mowed your grandmother’s lawn and lived down the block!
JH is a blend of everything I love: my notes on traveling to fabulous cities, discovering hotels, indulging in the best dining and shopping districts, and sharing what’s next on my travel list. For the home, I’ve curated timeless pieces like my favourite chintz ginger jars, elegant ice buckets, candles I burn constantly, and stationery to bring beauty into the everyday; I mean, when’s the last time you sent a friend a beautiful handwritten note? In the kitchen, you’ll find cooking tips and recipes tailored for one, two, or an entire crowd—whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I’m also passionate about teaching how to create the perfect ambiance when hosting at home—think music, candlelight, and food that invites everyone to linger a little longer. And for the wardrobe, I’ve designed a very small apparel line that marries preppy style with a sporty twist, solving my long-standing frustration of finding clothes that fit just right and are affordable. My goal is to teach and inspire anyone who’s willing to listen—millennials, younger generations, and even those older who don’t mind a bit of crass humour.
After all, life’s too short to be too serious, don’t you think?
