Madelaine Lambert knows firsthand how important Culbert’s Bakery is to the Goderich community, so the last thing she wants to do is screw it up.
“I cannot be responsible for messing up Culbert’s,” laughs the new owner of the iconic bakery. “I will be banned from the community for the rest of my life.”
She takes over ownership of the bakery next month, and while she’s excited to modernize some aspects of the business, she plans to keep the cookies, brownies, donuts and of course, the cream puffs, the same quality as ever.
Lambert ran her own marketing business for years and as fate would have it, the week she closed was the week Culbert’s went up for sale.
“I was like, ‘Oh my god, we need to save Culbert’s. It’s too good for somebody to just buy it up and change it,'” she says. “I had some extra capital to throw at something, so let’s look at this.”
Lambert is no baker herself, so she’s partnered with Chris Neamtu, a pastry chef and chocolatier from Toronto.
Though Neamtu has some plans to expand their chocolate offerings, Lambert stresses that they will not be making any changes to the original recipes. To help with the transition, current owner Darrin Culbert will be staying on for at least a month.
The transfer of ownership officially takes place on Oct. 12.
