Most Ottawa baristas are well aware of the looming reputation of the local Art-Is-In-Bakery. Known as the trendy bakery-cafe, the location has made a massive profit by extending their popular breads and pastries to nearby farmers’ markets around the city, which has ensured its growing popularity. For most Ottawa locals, brunch cannot be complete without one of the invented cronut pastries (a combination of a croissant and a donut).

When looking to support local businesses, consumers have an opportunity to contribute to their community's future potential. Business owners engaged with independent shops and organizations are often beginning from the ground upwards, competing against capitalized (and larger) competition. By focusing on supporting the economic vitality of a local business, consumers manage to help fund long term sustainability, and to shape local areas.

Art-Is-In-Bakery is deceptively good. By proposing the theme of ‘simple pleasures everyday’, they make culinary masterpieces a vital part of everyday living. The location itself is inspired by the trendy themes of cafes in Brooklyn, allowing it to tailor the industrial complex into an artistic wonderland devoted to churning out French-inspired bread and other food products. It has easily become a must-visit location, popping up around the city by means of farmers’ markets and pop-up stands.

Clearly, the bakery-cafe giant has mastered its public persona of Instagram worthy aesthetics. Sitting high on most culinary based lists regarding Ottawa tourism, and collecting a hefty amount of positive feedback online, Art-Is-In-Bakery tends to spend an exuberant amount of time rolling in five-star reviews. What most consumers are unaware of, however, is the startling collection of negative employment reviews and experiences.

Disturbingly, these evaluations are not hard to find scattered across the internet, tethered to job search portals and general social media. It’s difficult to avoid the perpetual advertisements searching for baristas and line-cooks during the infamous peak period. In the age of growing awareness of worker conditions in big businesses like Amazon and Walmart, consumers find themselves persistently ignorant of the ongoing issues that have spread throughout smaller scale locations. Why shop corporate level when your money can invest itself in the development of community-centric businesses?

Their frequent job advertisements tend to fail at accuracy. While promising flexible hours and a positive work environment, Art-Is-In-Bakery is rarely hiring for the listed positions. Rather than need a barista, they simply seek runner staff to ferry plates from the kitchen to tables, working untrained for a trial shift.

These trial shifts tend to occur on weekends, when the location is at its busiest. Every Sunday the menu is revamped to include brunch alternatives. Trial staff are excluded from tips, struggle to receive payment for hours worked, excluded from proper breaks, mass job terminations, toxic management, and are left largely unsupervised for their shifts. Limited research into these employee reviews reveals hefty complaints of racism and sexual harassment in the workplace, hostile superiors, and general neglect.

Should readers be concerned about these anonymous allegations? Absolutely.

When countless new employee reviews are being churned out with negative feedback, an issue clearly exists. The fact that workers from different periods of employment have been struggling with the same problems is a massive problem. Even during interviews, hiring managers acknowledge the length of negative feedback found on websites like Indeed.com and Glassdoor.com. The company itself simply operates with skewed hiring policies, and thrives off of the products created in a toxic work environment. Cheap labour is often expendable, making it devastatingly simple to hire in mass during peak busy season, and remove staff as the crowds die down some.

Why should Ottawa residents care that new staff are being constantly funneled into Art-Is-In-Bakery? The voices of workers tend to fall by the wayside. How does one compete against a business giant? Not easily. Legally, there are so few things that are accessible to new workers (as well as swiftly terminated workers), and there isn’t support offering assistance to help maneuver these staff members into a more secure workplace. Service workers are usually stuck in low paying positions at the mercy of gratuities, and have limited access to health packages. For a company to abuse so many workers, something needs to change. After all, even in the most positive reviews posted by happy customers, frequently it is noted of the general moodiness and inexperienced nature of staff. To expect experiences, customers need to investigate the entire situation more thoroughly.

Ottawa has developed a culinary wonderland out of its urban city. With so much land devoted to agriculture, it is difficult to find a restaurant that doesn’t use fresh ingredients for unique dishes. Residents of the city often frequent habits like foraging for wild herbs, apples, and other root vegetables found around the area. This definitely encourages the service industry in Ottawa, which is certainly supported by programs like Algonquin College’s Culinary Management department. Art-Is-In-Bakery has been successful due to the culinary advantages found in the city, but consumers primarily depend on the labour of the service industry, and that dependence goes both ways. By seeking out other businesses for food products, residents are able to surpass the products Art-Is-In-Bakery offers.

Customers and the service workers are what sustains the service and hospitality industry. Humans tend to crave positive interactions, which is what makes the connection between customer and worker so unique and unforgettable. By establishing welcoming and positive spaces, the service industry aims to create a middle ground, existing somewhere between work life and home life.

Art-Is-In-Bakery has devoted itself to achieving culinary masterpieces only. There is limited (if any) thought into the security and health of employees, which is why the location needs to restructure its priorities. Until then, Ottawa residents should look elsewhere to support local industry, and help support service workers.