Carb-lovers have spoken.
The Okotoks COBS Bread has taken gold for best customer service and silver for best bakery in the Western Wheel’s Readers’ Choice Awards.
Owners Kelly and Lee Hodgins were thrilled at the win, validating their hard work building the business since 2013.
"We never expect to win, it’s always a pleasant surprise,” Kelly said. “We do our best every day at everything we do, and winning is just the icing on the cake.
“Customer service is actually the most exciting to win, because everybody serves customers, and I do believe we go that extra mile.
“I also attribute it to some longtime employees we have as well, which is definitely a key, because without our employees we can’t accomplish anything.”
Go to any public event in the Foothills, and there’s a fair chance Lee or Kelly will be out under a COBS collapsible canopy, handing out scones and bread samples, or providing the cinnamon buns for the Cinnamon Bun Run portion of the Millarville Half Marathon.
“It’s important to make a connection – it only makes sense for you to support the community that’s supporting you,” Kelly said.
Recognition for their quality baking is also the result of hard work, Kelly added.
Our bakers take pride in what they do,” she said. “They start at one in the morning, and you have to love what you’re doing to come to work at one in the morning.
“The fact that we scratch bake, and our products are unique to COBS, our recipes are not products people can get in the grocery store.”
The experience of going to a bakery for fresh bread is carefully crafted, Lee pointed out.
“You have to create that experience; you can go anywhere and shop anywhere for most things,” he said. “We have specific things here that no one else makes, but if you don’t create the experience they can go elsewhere, so you show them why we’re different, why we’re the choice for bread, that way they keep coming back.”
Their company did the leg work to ensure their breadth of products are authentic.
"Our master baker from COBS learned how to do it in France,” Kelly said.
“French baguettes are the most versatile product – it's great to go with soup and we’ve made pizza off it.”
Their sourdough has a bona fide lineage as well, with COBS possessing the largest living starter, originating in San Francisco.
Choice can vary too, as bakery owners tailor to local tastes.
“There’s definitely different products sold at each bakery depending on the local community,” Kelly said. “We sell quite a bit of sourdough in Okotoks, as well as quite a bit of white bread.
“Because again, it’s fantastic bread and some people just don’t want anything special, but we have everything that people need for day-to-day use.”
A lot – or very little depending on how you look at it – goes into something as simple as good bread. For baguettes, the COBS website lists only flour, water, salt, yeast and malted barley powder.
“We have our own special blend of flour, made for COBS, and it’s milled right here in Lethbridge,” he said. “There’s a huge difference in taste from regular bread to a bakery bread.
“I run into a lot of people at different events and they say, ‘My kids will only eat COBS bread because of the taste’ and it’s a good feeling.
“You know you’re doing it right.”
