After 18 years in that iconic red brick building, With the Grain is closing its café and consolidating locations.

At the end of the month the business will be moving out of the larger building on the northwest corner of London Road and Woolwich Street and operating solely out of its cozy bakery on the northeast corner.

“Over the last year or so, I’ve wanted to simplify the business a little bit,” said owner Sheri Bishop in a phone interview on Friday.

“It’s kind of a perfect storm of things,” she said, citing the recent changes to Ontario’s minimum wage as one of the reasons for the move.

Other factors include the expected price increases from suppliers, the federal government increasing employment insurance costs, and other expected changes to the cost of doing business in the years to come.

“I think these recent changes (to the minimum wage) are all for the good. It’s just, there’s going to be an adjustment period that’s going to make it difficult without some radical changes.”

Radical changes

On Friday afternoon, Bishop posted a note on the With the Grain Facebook page to inform their more than 2,100 followers of the upcoming move. Within the first few hours it was shared more than 25 times, with many people commenting or posting sad-face emojis in response.

Bishop also owns Cadence, the vegan/vegetarian restaurant on Yarmouth Street. Along with this shift in locations, With the Grain will be going meat-free. Facebook commenters lamented the loss of the café’s iconic BATH (bacon, avocado, tomato and Havarti) sandwiches.

The café will officially close its doors at the end of the day on Jan. 24. The new With the Grain will open on the other side of the street on Jan. 27 with a similar, but vegetarian, menu.