Ukrainian Deliatessen Delights
When they emigrated to Canada from Ukraine six years ago, Alyona Chyzhevska and Oleg Chyzhevskyi first found work by working for others — she in frozen food sales and he in fitness. But when the pandemic hit, it forced them to rethink their work lives and chase a long-time dream of entrepreneurship.
Their original dream was to open a café, but that didn’t seem viable in a pandemic, so instead, they adjusted their plans and opened Duke Fine Foods, a European Delicatessen in Bells Corners, in the summer of 2021.
Chyzhevska had spent two years working in food sales and her family in Ukraine all work in the food industry — some make sausages, others own grocery stores — and Chyzhevskyi previously worked in importing and exporting in Ukraine. With their combined experience, they set out to find a space for their shop. Once they found the location “everything was like an avalanche,” Chyzhevska says, with the busy days and the stress of opening a business during a pandemic. Renovating the space, previously a paint shop, proved to be their biggest challenge. The two were set on ensuring the store felt spacious and airy, as Chyzhevska says she often finds specialty grocery stores too tight a squeeze for comfortable browsing. At Duke’s, there is lots of space between the tightly packed shelves and room to grow should their list of imports increase.
The shelves are well-stocked with all kinds of European imports, ranging from German marzipan, Eastern European teas and jams of all kinds to Swiss chocolates, sauerkraut, pickled mushrooms, Serbian ajvar and Romanian vegetable spreads. There are Polish soups and Ukrainian buckwheat, too. Along with German and Lithuanian bread products, local baker Nat’s Bread supplies fresh loaves to the shop.
On one side of the grocery aisles are fridges and freezers full of varenyky (the Ukrainian word for pierogies.) It’s a vast selection and one of the most popular spots in the shop. There are also local dairy products, as well as Eastern European butters, German quark, kefir and fresh cottage cheese.
“You can make from cottage cheese everything that you want,” Chyzhevska laughs.
On the opposite side is the deli with an extensive collection of European smoked and cured meats and sausages. With more than five kinds of ham, 25 different salamis and dozens of wheels of cheese, the sandwich experience at Duke’s shouldn’t be missed. You’ll find caviar at the fish counter, which is home to some of the shop’s best sellers: the salted herring and smoked mackerel.
“It’s fun,” Chyzhevskyi says, to watch people experience “memory through tastes.”
Whether it be a jam they had as a child, or a cake like their grandmother used to make, the shop owners find it special to provide that nostalgic link through their provisions.
With an espresso bar at the back of the shop and a bakery section filled with treats such as poppyseed rolls, European-style cheesecakes and rum balls, the couple is incorporating a bit of the original café-dream into this business. Throughout the spring, latte art featured the Ukrainian trident coat of arms and the ex-pats donated all proceeds from to-go coffee sales to grassroots efforts to feed Ukrainians displaced by the war.
Opening a business during the pandemic was nerve-racking. “We had silent breakfasts, like the morning before an exam,” Chyzhevska recalls, describing how tense the family felt. And the Russian invasion of Ukraine has made some logistics more difficult, but they are far more concerned for their family and friends at home, than supply chain hiccups, as complicated as they may be.
The couple has been sharing resources with customers who want to support Ukrainians affected and displaced by the war, and also hopes to be able to hire Ukrainians who resettle in Ottawa. “The Ukrainian community here is very, very helpful,” Chyzhevska says, emphasizing that the support they received through the Ukrainian church and schools when they arrived was key to helping their family fall in love with Ottawa, and eventually establish themselves as entrepreneurs. Now she wants to pay that forward to fellow Ukrainians who find themselves far from home.
The shop’s name is a nod to the Duc de Richelieu, known as “a father of Odesa” the pair explains. The French Duke invited architects from all over Europe to build up the port city on the Black Sea. The name doubles as a nod to their hometown, and also their goal to bring a taste of all of Europe to the capital (and it is easy enough to remember, they laugh.)
While it’s been a stressful time, the Ukrainian transplants light up when they talk about the community and custom- ers who brighten each day. Their oldest son, Vlad, helps out in the store and has become a bit of a news source for customers who come in looking for updates about the go- ings on in both Ukraine and Bell Corners. “With the pan- demic, and being so busy… I thought my social life was over,” Chyzhevska chuckles, “but with the shop, my social life is getting better every day.”
Duke Fine Foods
2120 Robertson Rd, Unit 110, Ottawa, Ont.
dukefinefoods.com | 613.978.3646 | @dukefinefoods
