The mother-daughter duo of Tracey Pritchard and Alex O'Shea are looking to give Stratford a small taste of the good thing they have going at The Flour Mill in St. Marys when they open up their new outpost on Ontario Street next month.
“We will be located at 2 Ontario Street, the site of the former El Cactus Taco,” said co-owner Alex O’Shea. “There is a lot of nostalgia for us at this location, there is lots of history involved with the building, and it's gorgeous.”
The Flour Mill’s journey started roughly 10 years ago when O’Shea moved to Stratford. At the time, there was some uncertainty about future plans but it all worked out in the end.
“When I moved to Stratford, I was still working and commuting to Toronto,” O’Shea said. “After immersing myself in the food industry I decided to launch a cold press juice company. Then my mom moved to Stratford and she was also in the food industry, so we naturally decided to work together.”
The duo wasn’t able to find a suitable space in Stratford at the time of launch, but then 6 Water Street south in St. Marys became available and the old flour mill became the namesake of the new mother/daughter business. The pair are planning on opening in some capacity by December, just in time for the holiday season.
“We are currently renovating, but we will be popping up in some capacity in December,” said O’Shea. “We may be open only for limited days or hours but we want to be there for the holiday season, and we will finish everything up in the new year.”
The new location, dubbed the Flour Mill Outpost, will feature only dine-out options at the moment, but the aesthetics and offering will be very similar to its parent location and may even encourage people to head to see the St.Marys shop.
“People, whether it be locals, or visitors can expect a taste of the Flour Mill when they visit,” said O’Shea. “We offer prepared foods, local and organic groceries, smoothies, delicious coffee, and cold-crushed juices. We also offer a nice selection of curated items for entertainment like bottles of wine, candlesticks, and more. Our new location is just under 200 square feet, which is a lot less than the roughly 700 square feet in St. Marys, so it will just be a sampling of our products, but we will still be offering everything.”
When they got into business together there was an agreement that they would love one another regardless of what transpired business wise, and this is a key to their success according to O’Shea.
“The relationship between us can be complex, but we have a really solid foundation,” she said. “We may not agree on every aspect, but we love each other at the end of the day, and that is a non-negotiable. We have complementary skills and we each focus on different parts of the business so it works really well.”
