KAMSACK - Local residents have been buzzing about a new home-based bakery that has recently popped up in town. Known on its Facebook page as “The Real McCoy pastries and more” the featured selection of goodies includes items such as; specialty cakes, homemade bread, cookies, pastries, baked pretzels, homemade lasagna, cabbage rolls, and old-fashioned meatloaf to name a few.
But who is “The Real McCoy?”
Diving into the challenge of unravelling that mystery, the Kamsack Times arrived at a freshly painted, black and white converted church on the corner of Fort Pelly Ave and Park Street in Kamsack to find out.
Among the latest wave of newcomers to Kamsack, Nicole and Dave Ratte, previously of Kitchener, Ont., said they are pleased to have found what they consider their “dream house.”
“We decided it was time to sell our home in Ontario,” explained Nicole. “We wanted to get out of the city and build a new life in a small town.”
Engaging in their online search, the couple held on to a few “wish list” items that would ultimately help them find a home that suited them best.
“I had a few things I was looking for,” said Nicole. “I wanted to live in a converted church, I wanted a loft, and I wanted to live near water. We found it all in a Kamsack real estate posting and we made an offer right away, purchasing the home sight-unseen. It was perfect, and it had everything we were looking for.”
The couple are parents to three young adults. Their youngest, a 17-year-old son, Brayden, was the only one of their children to move to Kamsack with them. Nicole said Brayden is enjoying the luxury of his own personal space in the home’s basement. A few years back, Nicole decided to step away from her career and focus on taking care of Brayden, who lives with a disability that results in him experiencing frequent seizures. Nicole’s partner, Dave, was also forced to step out of the workforce due to a significant back injury, and now considers himself semi-retired. In a previous career, Nicole worked as a certified chef in the posh Niagara Falls district, cooking in a number of high-end restaurants that she couldn’t afford to eat at herself.
After settling into their new home and jumping into renovations on the home and yard, Nicole wondered what would come next.
“I thought to myself - what am I going to do? Like, I have all this time. And then I started just started baking. But we don't really eat sweets. So with everything I was baking, I decided to put them up for sale, for like next to nothing – just to kind of clean out my stocks. And then, people started trying things. And then, people start requesting things.”
Nicole said she then decided to set up a Facebook page to display her homemade products - calling it “The Real McCoy pastries and more.”
According to Internet sources, "The real McCoy" is an idiom and metaphor used in much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article.”
“Because my maiden name is McCoy,” explained Nicole. “Everybody used to say to me, are you the real McCoy? Are you the real thing? Well, my pastries are nothing like store-bought. My meals are all homemade – 100 per cent. So the name fits perfectly because everything that comes out is real.”
Between the Facebook response and word-of-mouth momentum, Nicole said she was amazed at how quickly the demand grew. Turning to Amazon, it didn’t take long for Nicole to amass thousands of dollars in baking supplies with the intention of being able to achieve anything her clients might request.
“I was like, if you if you can ask for it – I can pretty much guarantee I can make it,” said Nicole. “But it's not because I'm cocky. It’s because I always sit down and study the crap out of whatever it is. If I don't know how to do something, I will go into the kitchen and start playing around. Usually, I can nail it.”
Nicole continued, “I've had a lot of people leave comments on the Facebook pages like, “Oh my god, I bought this from her. It's fantastic.’ And that I love that. It doesn't do anything to boost my ego, but it does reassure me that I'm on the right path and getting better.”
Although she doesn’t shy away from a challenge, Nicole said that some of the more ambitious projects take hours, if not days to complete.
“At the end of the day, factoring in the cost of ingredients, I might make ten cents an hour to compensate for my time – and there have been times where we’ve even seen a loss,” explained Nicole. “I hate saying no to people. It’s just it's hard to figure out my price point because I hate charging people too much. I really, truly do. If I could give it to you for free, I would do it. And I used to do that, and Dave's like, ‘You're killing me.’”
When she does turn a profit, Nicole says all the money goes into upgrading her equipment, molds, specialty ingredients, and stencils.
“So if somebody comes to me and says they need a wedding cake – I can do that. I have products like edible gold on hand. I try to have everything on hand that I could possibly need.”
Nicole added that The Real McCoy products are made entirely with whole ingredients and no added preservatives. Customers can request low-salt, sugar-free, or Keto-friendly options. In addition to sweets, Nicole has tapped into her chef training to make “meals-to-go” for seniors, busy working parents, or professionals who feel they don’t have the time or skills to always cook for themselves. Her next business goal is to purchase a new freezer to keep up with the rapidly growing demand.
Beyond providing nourishing meals, holiday treats, and specialty cake orders, The Ratte Family is looking forward to getting to know more people in their new community.
“In the summertime, we like to sit out front, read, and sip coffee. When we first moved here, you couldn't see the front of the house because there was such a big bush right in the corner. So that was one of the first things we did – we got rid of it because we wanted to be able to see our neighbours and interact with them. That was one reason we moved. We lived in our last home for 16 years and we knew only one neighbour. Often in the city, neighbors don't interact with each other. And we didn't want that. We always want that small-town vibe where people just pop in. You know, what it was like when you were a kid.”
Those looking for more information or to place an order are invited to visit the Facebook page at The Real McCoy pastries and more.
