Integrating while remaining true to her roots

A cultural community is really made up of people who want to integrate and bring a bit of their culture with them, be it through activities or, in our case, food, so that others can discover it. That’s pretty much how we see Emiko’s arrival.

Well, the history of the bakery is something important, something that has been part of people’s daily lives. So, for us, it was essential to keep all of that here. When we bought it, most people told us, “Don’t change anything, keep everything!” and we made it a point of honour not to remove anything. We simply added to it. So people are rediscovering recipes they’ve always had over the past 40 years, over the past 20 years, so it was important for us not to throw everything away, but to simply bring our image, and it was the same thing with Emiko. Emiko is therefore a very important addition to the bakery. Her personality makes her a warm person who likes to reach out to people. So, for her employees, she’s very maternal. She likes to take care of people and listen to them, which is a really important contribution to the bakery.

She’s very involved in the organization Je collationne. I don’t know if you’re familiar with it, but it provides snacks to schoolchildren in the Kamouraska region, including Rivière-Ouelle, Saint-Gabriel-Lalemant, and other areas. She’s very involved when it comes to distributing snacks; she’s really there with them. She also does a lot work with her children and her partner through the Guignolée, a media Christmas-time food and fund-raising drive. So she’s really very involved.

For her, it’s very important to keep everything that once belonged to the Leclerc family. She would like to put up photos of what the bakery used to be like. Because for her, it’s really important. A family through the years, four generations. We were talking earlier about how the bakery is 140 years old. So, for her, it’s very important. Then there’s something else that’s very important in Japan as well, family continuity. So, for her, it’s important to recognize what the Leclercs have done and then to add her own touch, while always preserving what the Leclercs have done for the bakery and the region too.