Montreal's favourite salad sisters are coming to Toronto
Nearly two decades after customers started snaking outside of a women’s clothing store in Montreal — not to buy sweaters or jeans, but instead, seeking a tiny 200 square foot salad bar set in the back — Mandy’s Salads is coming to Toronto.
“It’s a tried, tested and true recipe and we’re just hoping that Toronto loves it as much as Montreal does,” Mandy Wolfe, co-founder of the salad chain, told CTV News Toronto alongside her sister Rebecca.
A Mandy's signature salad photographed and soon to be sold in Toronto (Supplied). On Mar. 1, the city will get its first taste of Mandy’s signature salads, soon-to-be located in a Notting-Hill-like space with arched windows and a pink French bistro-inspired interior at 52 Ossington Avenue, between Queen and Argyle streets.
To start, Mandy’s is launching pickups and deliveries before welcoming customers into their 1,500-square-foot indoor dining space the following week.
The doors of their first Toronto location haven’t opened just yet, but already, the Wolfe sisters are in lease negotiations for a second space at King Street West and Spadina Avenue, aiming for a summer opening.
While gourmet salads may no longer be considered a culinary novelty in Toronto, the salad sisters are dedicated to a more meaningful mission that ventures beyond the act of chopping kale and carrots.
“Our mission statement is really that the experience while eating the food is just as important as the food itself,” Mandy said. “We hope to convey that in the Toronto experience as well.”
A variety of Mandy's signature salads photographed and soon to be sold in Toronto (Supplied). “We wanted to change the way that people saw salad as not just a side dish….and not just something that you're having when you're on a diet. We want people to be excited about salad,” Rebecca added.
When they first set out on their journey in 2004, Mandy and Rebecca were determined to shift the narrative surrounding salads from a meal that was brushed off as rabbit food to one people craved and genuinely wanted to eat five times a week.
At the time, Rebecca’s partner had a clothing store with spare space. While he had visions of a panini shop, placing an oven in a clothing store was impractical. Instead, “It turned into salads,” Rebecca said.
Between the two sisters, neither one had prior professional business or cooking experience, but Mandy was naturally gifted in the kitchen and Rebecca had a knack for interior design. The partnership was organic.
“As sisters, we are cut from the same fabric,” Mandy said. “All our values are the same.”
Admiration for family is visibly at the centre of their business — with framed family photos and Mandy’s infamous chocolate chip cookies, which she first started baking in their kitchen as a 10-year-old — both staples at their growing list of locations.
“We want to make [customers] feel like they're home,” Mandy said.
Background
Table Talk is a weekly CTV News Toronto series that explores the people who shape Toronto’s food scene, published every Friday at CTVNewsToronto.ca
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Ukraine uses long-range missiles secretly provided by U.S. to hit Russian-held areas, officials say
Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles provided secretly by the United States, bombing a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied area overnight, American officials said Wednesday.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
All Alberta wildfires to date in 2024 believed to be human-caused: province
There are 63 wildfires burning in Alberta's forest protection area as of Wednesday morning and seven mutual aid fires, including one in the Municipal District of Peace.
7 surveillance videos linked to extortions of South Asian home builders in Edmonton released
The Edmonton Police Service has released a number of surveillance videos related to a series of extortion cases in the city now dubbed 'Project Gaslight.'
Suspects waving weapons, smashing glass in Toronto jewelry store robbery caught on video
Arrests have been made after five men were captured on video rampaging through a jewelry store in Toronto, waving weapons and smashing glass display cases.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
New evidence challenges the Pentagon's account of a horrific attack as the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan: CNN exclusive
New video evidence uncovered by CNN significantly undermines two Pentagon investigations into an ISIS-K suicide attack outside Kabul airport, during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.