Whether by accident or design, discovering Warkworth is becoming something of a tradition. Celebrated resident Jeanne Beker simply ran out of gas only to be rescued by accommodating locals…and stayed. Warkworth is simply that kind of place.
As a designated Village of Arts and Culture, Warkworth attracts outside of the box thinkers, creative types, movers and shakers looking for opportunities to do something different with their lives, even if they do not know quite what. Relocation, typically from Toronto, liberates funds to fuel imagination and ambition. Many of Warkworth’s current business owners hail from elsewhere and do not regret the move.
Warkworth’s cultural activity is not just focused on the Arts and Heritage Centre, with its schedule of “local and global” programming, nor activities at the town hall, now renamed as a Centre for the Arts. It is actually infused through the very lifeblood of the village with its frequent festivals: Maple Syrup, Lilacs, the Long Lunch. There’s always something happening in Warkworth.
Tracy and Jimmy Ioannidis fit the profile perfectly…advertising creatives working for the same company, increasingly challenged by a work life balance incompatible with family life and the demands of two young boys. Originally, for them the escape route was to be the Shangri La of a Prince Edward County lavender farm. Redundancy just as Covid arrived focused their minds considerably and eventually the escape route evaporated with a sale of their dream property to another buyer. As things turned out, that was to be lucky escape number one. Selling their house in May 2021, they moved in with Tracy’s parents, whilst the couple drove, what Jimmy calculated as 30,000 clicks, looking for a new home with a July deadline to not interrupt the children’s schooling. Lucky escape number two came from not buying a beautiful house in Port Hope, where they later learned the ceiling had collapsed shortly after the new owner, who had proceeded without an inspection, moved in.
“Charming as a movie set,” was Tracy’s first reaction when a realtor introduced them to Warkworth and showed them round a Queen Anne style house, which was absolutely not what they were looking for, but as often is the case, they immediately fell in love with its historic charm and intricately detailed woodwork. In particular, Jimmy could see himself enjoying a sundowner on the porch whilst chatting with the neighbours. The die was cast, Jimmy got a job at Home Hardware and Tracy put her art director skills to work with preparing homes for sale with Simply Staging. Their children, Hayden and Finlay, settled in to their new schools remarkably well, quickly being accepted and making new friends.
Some time later a realtor friend drew to Tracy and Jimmy’s attention that the local café, Our Lucky Stars, was on the market. It had been owner Lizzie’s baby for many years and she wanted to make sure it went to good hands and would continue as a café business. Lizzie interviewed Tracy and Jimmy “as if they were being selected as nannies for her children.” She was concerned that new owners might make radical changes to what had become a cornerstone of community life. After some initial reluctance, the couple worked a few shifts in the cafe familiarizing themselves with its operation, as they had no real previous experience of running a café at all, beyond enjoying entertaining. Those casual encounters persuaded them that this was the new lifestyle opportunity they had been seeking. This time the acquisition proceeded smoothly.
As new the owners of the café, renamed as K Okay Café & Roasters, they immediately applied for a liquor license to add wine, beer, cider and spirits to the menu and allow Jimmy to share his experience as a lover of wine with his customers at wine tasting evenings. Having been a student at Ontario College of Art, the visual arts is a particular passion of Tracy’s, so she thought it would be a good idea to open up their wall space to local artists. Each month a new artist displays their work. To introduce the community to them, Tracy and Jimmy host an artist evening on the second Thursday of every month. For these evenings all the tables and chairs are removed and the space is quite easily repurposed into a small gallery. Tracy observes, “In the beginning we had artists back out, once we had to keep an artist’s show up for two months as it was hard to get people to participate. Now we are booking into 2027.”
I wanted to know where the confidence came from to engage in such a venture as this seems so different to their former lives. Jimmy responded, “First off, we believe in ourselves. Secondly, we both had a little experience in the service industry. Tracy worked in a pub in Ireland and I actually grew up in my dad’s diner in Kitchener and then worked in a few bars in Ottawa. But also, we believed that with Lizzie’s tutelage and a staff that knew how things operated, we could take a “fake it till we make it” kind of approach.”
I asked how it felt following in Lizzie’s footsteps? “At first we were
very hesitant to change anything because EVERY local who came in said that each item was their favourite and they hoped we were going to continue to make them. We knew that for almost ten years Lizzie had developed and crafted her menu, which people loved. So, with that in mind, we slowly introduced new items, but found there was a considerable appetite for the weekly specials we created so we continued introducing new ideas.”
Tracy confesses to having been the kind of kid that thrives on praise and compliments. The host in her likes to ensure guests are happy. “I love dabbling with cooking and experimenting, making soup allows me to do that. In the beginning we stuck to the tried and true recipes but as time went on we have pulled out some new recipes that have now become staples. Recently the Coconut Curried Cauliflower was highly praised by a customer exclaiming that this was the “best soup I’ve had in my life. The flavour and consistency – perfect!” Praise indeed.
I suggested that coffee roasting is an arcane mystery that was entirely new to the pair. “We knew nothing. It was, and is still is, a learning process. So, similar to the whole transition process, there were a few people with that prior knowledge. So, I learned as much as I could, as quickly as I could. With that knowledge, I came up with a few new blends, mindful of what people said about the food; the sentiment was the same for the coffee. We didn’t mess with the staples, adding only a few new blends. That progression has continued and I have found a mentor with a long history of roasting and the whole coffee practice.”
Jimmy adds, “As we became more acclimatized, we added a few things that were in Tracy’s wheelhouse, and retired a few items that we found just weren’t performing as well anymore. We also recently hired a retired teacher who loves to bake.” “She does a lot of our baking now and brings to life many of Jimmy’s LONG wish list of ideas!” notes Tracy.
Here are a few things to look out for at K Okay Cafe in the coming months. Artists’ evenings are held on the second Thursday of each month. Look out for chef inspired evenings. The first one coincided with the launch of Nikki Fotheringham’s book, Taste Buds. It went so well they are having a second one on Dec 5th. “We made a few signature cocktails and a selection of food from the book and plan to dig into it again for more ideas!” said Jimmy. And, not solely because of Tracy’s Irish heritage, they love St. Patrick’s Day – and have big plans for March 17.
In the works are open mic nights, and wine tasting events. Recently they held an oyster night which was a great success and for the future, they have many new and exciting things for the good folks from around Trent Hills to come and enjoy! Keep an eye on their social media for all the updates!
