The Sault’s Susan Willems van Dijk made a major career change in 2014 and has never looked back.
With a degree in child and youth work from the former Ryerson University, now known as Toronto Metropolitan University, van Dijk worked for the Children's Aid Society first as a frontline worker and then as a supervisor before establishing Q Cafe & Bakery.
“It was a brand new thing for me. I didn't know if it was going to work out. I felt scared. It was scary at first, but I enjoy it and I'm still here in business 11 years later,” van Dijk told SooToday.
She credits her sister Shari Hood for being her culinary inspiration.
“I’ve learned all of my cooking and baking skills from her. She's travelled the world. She knows how to blend all the flavours for different dishes. She's taught me all of that.”
Since 2014, Q Cafe & Bakery has been a popular downtown business from which customers can purchase healthy meals and tasty desserts.
“‘Fresh’ is our motto,” van Dijk said.
With all of its offerings made in-house, the cafe has a wide variety of fresh gourmet salads for sale Monday through Friday on a takeout or dine-in basis including beet salad, classic Caesar's salad, apple brie salad and Mediterranean salad.
A number of soups of the day are available and include chicken enchilada, chicken noodle, and sausage and potato with sweet green peas.
Side orders and extras include hard boiled eggs, sliced chicken breast, roast beef sandwich with roasted peppers and a grilled cheese sandwich with the soup of the day.
The menu is a hit with Q Cafe & Bakery’s regular customers, many of which are from the Sault’s downtown business community.
“A lot of people just call up for a takeout order and say ‘I'll have the soup of the day.’ They don't even ask what it is. They know it's going to be good. Some of them have the same salad every day because it's just what they want. I'd say we know 80 per cent of our customers on a first name basis and they know all of our names as well. After 11 years our clientele is committed and some people come in every day. That always astounds me. Some people love it so much that they come every day and we appreciate each and every one of them,” van Dijk said.
Apart from healthy soups and salads, Q Cafe & Bakery offers a variety of desserts for those with a sweet tooth.
“We have scones that are very popular so people come in the morning for scones or they have them after lunch for an afternoon snack. I do gluten-free brownies and those have become popular. It gives somebody a choice to have something sweet if they need to eat gluten-free. Our mini carrot cakes with cream cheese icing are very popular. We have chocolate chip cookies. If you want that little sweet treat, you'll get it here for sure,” van Dijk said.
Q Cafe & Bakery opened in 2014 at 472 Queen St. E.
Why the letter q?
“When I was growing up my family called me Suzy or Suzy Q. That's where the Q comes from. Everybody always asks me that. They think it's Q for Queen Street,” van Dijk said.
Taking a break from the dining room in 2018, van Dijk ran the business solely as a takeout during the COVID-19 pandemic before reopening as a full service dine-in and takeout cafe and bakery at its new location at 523 Queen St. E. in 2021.
Van Dijk said there are several reasons for her success and that she loves her cafe and bakery’s downtown location.
“Our staff, the quality and freshness of the food and our regular customers have made this business successful. Not all of our customers work downtown but it feels good to know that I’m giving back to the downtown community. It feels good to be here.”
