❤️ BEHIND THE BUSINESS

We didn’t start Behind the Business to introduce businesses. We started it to introduce the people behind them.

The family behind Leduc Coffee Shop.

The cinnamon buns at Leduc Coffee Shop have earned their own following.

Some customers travel from outside Leduc specifically to get one. But behind every bun is a detail you might not see from the other side of the counter:

The kitchen is so small that the team bakes them one tray at a time.

When the family shared its story with lalocal, the shop was approaching its 65,000th cinnamon bun sale.

That is a lot of trays.

It is also a glimpse of the work behind a place that has become part of many people’s lives.

Leduc Coffee Shop’s cinnamon buns are baked one tray at a time.

The family never planned to open a café.

Before Leduc Coffee Shop, they had already operated concessions at Leduc’s outdoor pool and owned the local Sears store.

When the Sears store had to move, the family had an opportunity to purchase the old Cash Store building on Main Street. They later sold Sears and opened Playing for Keeps Toys across the street while tenants operated a Play Cafe inside their building.

When the Play Cafe closed, the family faced a decision:

Find another tenant—or rethink the space themselves.

The espresso machine was there. The commercial kitchen was there. The café setup was already waiting.

As the family put it:

Leduc Coffee Shop opened in 2015.

But opening the doors required much more than turning on an espresso machine.

The family had to decide how a food business and retail shop could work together, what food they would serve and what kind of experience they wanted people to have.

They settled on something simple and lasting:

Homemade food, a friendly welcome and a place where people could slow down.

Leduc Coffee Shop at 4728 50 Avenue in downtown Leduc.

The building is an important part of the experience.

Its wooden floors creak. Customers might smell coffee or something freshly baked when they walk through the door. They can sit down for lunch, visit with friends or browse the gifts and toys throughout the shop.

The family describes it as:

They are not trying to create the biggest or trendiest coffee shop.

They want to preserve some of the character of old Leduc while creating a comfortable place people want to visit again and again.

Much of the shop’s baking and food preparation is done from scratch.

Karen connects that philosophy to growing up on a farm, where she learned to cook with what was available, make the most of fresh ingredients and prepare food without taking unnecessary shortcuts.

Along with its well-known cinnamon buns, the shop serves coffee and espresso drinks, chai lattes, homemade baking, breakfast items, soups, salads and sandwiches.

Customer favourites include grilled ham and cheese, breakfast sandwiches, ham and Swiss croissants and egg salad croissants.

The shop offers much more than coffee and cinnamon buns.

The team also tries to use Alberta and locally produced ingredients whenever possible. Through initiatives such as Alberta on the Plate, the shop has highlighted Alberta eggs, local vegetables, Alberta honey and berries from Alberta producers.

Its lettuce comes from an Indigenous-owned farm, and its bread comes from a local bakery.

For the family, supporting local businesses is part of belonging to a community—not simply doing business in one.

A locally owned coffee shop is built one customer at a time.

The people who visited during the early days became regulars. They told friends, brought family members and introduced visitors to their favourite food.

Eventually, the team learned people’s names, their regular coffee orders and what was happening in their lives.

The shop has been part of:

When the team knows someone is celebrating a birthday, they may add a candle to a treat and sing with the other guests.

Customers bring friends through the doors because they want someone else to try their favourite cinnamon bun. Strangers sometimes sit down for coffee and end up talking with one another.

Those are the moments that have stayed with the family.

Behind every cup of coffee and every tray of cinnamon buns are early mornings, preparation, baking, ordering, cleaning, staffing, maintenance, bookkeeping and countless daily decisions.

When you own a small family business, there is no large team working behind the scenes.

You are the team.

The family credits its staff, customers and the wider Leduc community for helping the shop grow.

People continued choosing the coffee shop when they had other options. They recommended it to friends, brought visitors through the doors and supported the family through difficult periods.

What makes the family proudest is not an award.

It is hearing that the shop feels like home.

The Leduc Coffee Shop story may already be beginning another chapter.

Karen’s granddaughters now help at the shop once a week. She hopes the next generation will want to carry the family business forward.

The goal is not to turn Leduc Coffee Shop into something completely different.

The family hopes to keep growing while protecting the hospitality, character and welcoming feeling people have come to know.

Years from now, they hope families will still walk through those creaking wooden doors—and that parents will tell their children about the coffee shop they visited when they were young.

Good food. Good coffee. A place where people feel welcome.

Sometimes the best businesses are not the ones people carefully planned.

Sometimes, as this family discovered, the business chooses them.

Address: 4728 50 Avenue, downtown Leduc

Phone: 780-328-6060

Website: magpiescollection.com

Facebook: Leduc Coffee Shop

Instagram: @leduccoffeeshop

Check the shop’s website or social media for current hours, seasonal drinks, baking and food specials.

Behind the Business is a lalocal series introducing Leduc to the people, work and stories behind our local businesses.

Know a local business with a story worth sharing? Reply to this email and tell us about the people behind it.