A trio of former Canadore College students has combined forces to open a new bakery on the north end of the city.
COBS Bread officially opened its doors on Wednesday for its first Community Day, with proceeds going to the North Bay Regional Health Centre Foundation.
Derek Corbeil is one of the new bakery franchisees. He worked at COBS Bread more than 15 years ago when the bakery chain expanded into Ontario.
"It has been kind of part of our friendship for the past 17 years so we thought why not open one in North Bay, it needs it," said Corbeil about going into business with longtime friends Shawn O'Neil and Carrie MacDonald.
"It was just one of those things we had a passion for and we had a lot of mutual friends who are still in the business."
Corbeil says COBS Bread, located in the Century Plaza in the former Kings Buffet, has hired 20 employees at the new bakery.
He says their new business is known for its fresh bakery products.
"We bake from scratch every day and at the end of the day, there is nothing left on our shelves," said Corbeil noting local charities currently include the Gathering Place, the North Bay Food Bank and St. Andrew's Church.
"It all gets donated to non-for-profit charities throughout the area."
Corbeil felt hosting a Community Day event was a perfect way to open the business.
"COBS is very much community based and we want to give back to our community," said Corbeil.
"The hospital has done so much for us the past two and a half years but it has also done so much for us over the past two years so it was just a no-brainer."
Tammy Morison, president and CEO of the North Bay Regional Health Centre Foundation, was humbled to be the first benefactor from the COBS Community Day opening.
"It is always so inspiring to see organizations in our community give back to charities and for COBS Bread to choose our Hospital Foundation as their very first community day is just such and honour," said Morison.
"We are very ecstatic and excited about it and we look forward to see many other organizations supported by their Community Days to come."