PROFILE • MANDI LUNAN: SELF STARTER // FOOD, SMALL BUSINESS
If you want to see where Mandi Lunan draws her inspiration from to be a passionate businesswoman and successful vegan baker, all you have to do is look at the framed photographs in her office at Auntie Loo’s Treats. They are not photos of Emma Goldman, although the Russian feminist/anarchist is one of her heroes. They are not photos of Elvis Presley or Marilyn Monroe, although those two famous faces playfully adorn the walls of the staff restroom at the bakery. They are photos of her grandparents: Nannie and Poppa, and Grandma and Grandpa. All four are still alive and they continue to inspire her to work hard and stay creative.
Mandi Lunan, owner of Auntie Loo’s Treats, is a woman of many tastes and talents. She loves a certain vintage aesthetic, especially in music, has been known to write a zine or two, and has played in bands by the names of The Wankers and Pianosaurus Rex. At first glance, she is a tough activist chick with the tattoos to match. What might surprise you about her, however, are her sweet-as-whoopie-pie smiles, her love and compassion for animals, and the small-town charm she brings to everything she does.
Mandi grew up spending summers in Prince Edward County and her entire family cooks and bakes. Whether this shared trait is genetic or due to the family spending so much time together in the country kitchen, Mandi’s down-to-earth personality is inviting and matched only by her passion for baking. Nannie and Grandma are both very influential in Mandi’s life. Nannie taught her to bake, as did Mandi’s stay-at-home mom who is now Auntie Loo’s bookkeeper. Grandma, who was the Head of Graduate Studies at York University, taught her that “ladies can be bosses.” If there’s a way to take domesticity and feminist power and whip them up into a tasty treat, you might name that treat after Mandi Lunan. Mandi or “Loo” as she has often been called, wasn’t always the hardworking vegan baking business lady she is today. Her foray into the world of vegan treats happened almost by accident.
Once as an aspiring rock photojournalist, Mandi dreamed of shooting album covers and working for Rolling Stone Magazine. She wanted to travel the world and live by her own rules. After high school in the GTA, she headed back to the county where she spent her summers and enrolled in the photojournalism program at Loyalist College. Love brought her to Ottawa in 2002 and she has lived here since with her partner, Chris, and other housemates. She spent her days slinging coffee drinks at Starbucks and her nights rocking out in a band, and could often be found in the kitchen, cooking and baking for her housemates. In 2004, when a housemate suggested she sell her tasty vegan treats, she joined the Ladyfest Craft Sale and set up a booth. In one show alone she made the same profit as her Starbucks paycheque, so she decided to enroll in business school at Algonquin College and sell her treats on the side.
“Treats are for everyone!”
When naming the business, she took her nickname, “Loo,” and added in the “Auntie” as a nod towards nostalgia. “I find nostalgia super-comforting,” she said as we sipped green tea with her grandparents watching over us. Mandi’s philosophy, “treats are for everyone,” is proven by the customers who happily devour her tasty treats at events, in retail stores, or directly at the bakery. Not all of her customers are vegan, and you certainly don’t have to follow any particular food-centric lifestyle to enjoy one of her whoopie pies, cookie sandwiches, cakes, cupcakes, or her newly created donuts. Mandi herself was a vegetarian from the age of 5 because she couldn’t stomach the idea of animals being eaten and, at age 20, she took the leap and became a full-on vegan. She doesn’t believe in converting others, but she stays true to her own lifestyle and that integrity extends to her business.
A proud feminist, Mandi is passionate about entrepreneurship and promotes women getting into business for themselves. “It’s scary,” she says, but “life is short.” “Start now” is the advice she has for anyone wanting to start a business. Like many young entrepreneurs today, she seeks a level of personal pride, integrity, and ownership in her work: “If we fuck up and go belly up, at least I can look in the mirror and say, ‘Nobody else did this to me’ —I’ll go down fighting and raging.” She takes this feisty attitude back to Algonquin College’s Business Program during her annual visits where she speaks to and sometimes mentors other young people who are starting their own businesses.
Mandi is the first to admit that she is not building the Auntie Loo layer-cake-of-an-empire alone. In addition to her supportive family and staff, there are the many women business owners in Ottawa that she looks up to, including the well-loved Oz Balpinar of Oz Kafe: “Oz is my business-lady hero. Whenever I’m stumped, she’s my first text.” Although she’s not living on a tour bus photographing rock stars and traveling all over the world, Mandi is living out her own version of an “Almost Famous” lifestyle. She is doing what she loves, and doing it on her terms: “I get to be exactly who I want every day and it’s awesome. I work with who I want, and I support the causes that I want to support.”
When I asked her to brag about herself and speak to her success as a boss and business owner, she humbly pointed to those around her who make Auntie Loo’s Treats the success that it is, including her customers: “I love people—I love my customers!” And her customers love her too, as was evident by the person attending Auntie Loo’s Treats’ anniversary party with a handmade card bearing thoughtfully written messages to each staff member. Her staff is more like family than a group of employees, with Miss Kate Veinot taking the role of her fellow parental figure: “Kate is just as important to the business as I am.” Kate created the website, does the scheduling, and designs every single cake (including wedding cakes), all of which are original and never duplicated. If Kate and Mandi are the parents, the rest of the Auntie Loo family are “their kids,” and she refers to them lovingly as such. The Auntie Loo brood includes: Head Baker and Cordon-Bleu trained Pastry Chef Matty, caring and detail-oriented Charlotte, energetic “ray of sunshine” Josephine, sweet and talented photographer Erica, and reliable Pam who “always gets the job done perfectly.” Mandi is living proof that you don’t need a fancy education in pastry arts to make your own tasty treats, but it helps to hire someone who does: “I only hire people that have a strength to compensate my weaknesses.” The crew blasts tunes in the bakery and has impromptu dance parties, hosts potlucks, and most importantly supports each other. “We enjoy our time together and get ideas from each other.” As a boss, she tries to be as transparent as possible and compensate her employees fairly.
Auntie Loo’s Treats is on a journey, and part of that journey has been to move from their previous Bronson location to the larger, current location on Nelson Street. This was not an easy move, as quickly afterward the increased size and production levels ramped up business and they started supplying to Farm Boy. This change, although positive, resulted in some growing pains. “The expansion almost took me out emotionally and physically, but it was totally worth it,” says Mandi, who quickly realized that repairs to the mixer and walk-in fridge were needed to keep up with demand. Enter the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo. Within two days of sharing her campaign video, $3000 of the $15,000 goal was raised. Donors included friends from high school, customers, her hairstylist, and the folks from Vegan Cuts. “I’m blown away,” she said. “It has been really inspiring and heartwarming.” In the end, the campaign raised just over one-third of its goal, which, after a search for more affordable rates, will do quite well in getting the repairs done successfully.
Mandi exudes a warm, approachable energy, and her passion for baking and serving others is palpable. Add in her colourful style and friendly smile, and you’d think she might be knocking on Food Network Canada’s doors. “No, thank you,” she says, as she admits that she is quite sensitive and suffers from anxiety. As with any business that does well, the public response is not always 100% positive, and for Mandi that has been tough to take. Welcoming constructive criticism, she avoids online reviews because of the hateful comments that appear, sometimes from vegan bloggers who support forced conversion. Although she understands “it’s part of being in business,” she prefers to focus on the positive and she has her staff bring her the constructive feedback so she can respond. Auntie Loo’s Treats is now ten years old, four of which have included a storefront. What will the next five look like? Mandi’s goals are to sell her treats province-wide in the next two years and to launch a line of vegan frozen meals in the next five. She also plans to do more pop-up diners at Urban Craft. Whatever she does, you know Mandi Lunan will do it with a wink in her eye, a smile on her face, and a tasty treat ready to share.
Herd Magazine, 2014.
Update: Mandi Lunan is now the founder and owner of Mandi Lunan: Food Business Coach.