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From whopper to showstopper

Helina Stark is her own boss at The Cheesy Pickup after being laid off in November

After working for a “king” for four years, Helina Stark is her own queen.

Stark worked for Burger King in the Orillia Square mall until it closed at the end of November 2017, leaving only one tenant in the shopping centre’s floundering food court.

“First, I was angry,” Stark said. “Corporations wait until the most inopportune time to lay off employees — right before Christmas.”

She was under the impression the fast-food joint would be around until the end of December, so she was surprised when the doors closed a month earlier. Her mother died a week before Stark lost her job.

“I was a bit of a mess at that point,” she said.

It was a tough time for Stark, and for two of her Burger King colleagues, Krystie Lackenbauer and Crystal Londry.

“It was kind of a bummer last year. It wasn’t much of a Christmas,” Stark said.

It did present an opportunity, however. Stark and her husband, Graham, had talked for years about opening their own business. They considered opening a pub or a sandwich shop where they could smoke meat in-house. They decided against the long hours and liquor-related issues that can come with operating a pub, so they revisited the idea of opening a place that sells sandwiches.

At the beginning of February, “I realized I really didn’t want to go and work for another place like where I was,” Stark said.

About a week later, she learned of an opportunity to set up shop at the corner of Mississaga and Andrew streets, formerly home to the GNF Café and, prior to that, Gourmet Station. She and her husband checked it out and decided it was the perfect fit for their new business: The Cheesy Pickup.

“It’s our take on different types of sandwiches,” Stark said of the grilled cheese shop.

She wasn’t ready to simply slap some cheese between two slices of bread and throw it on a grill. She wanted to elevate what is, to many, a classic comfort food. Inspired by friends and family, she came up with a menu that draws from their heritage: Polish, French, Scottish.

And Canadian, of course.

“Maple is our staple,” she said, noting the sweet stuff is used in many of her menu items. “They all mean something special to us.”

So does her staff, which includes Lackenbauer and Londry.

Having a local focus is also important to Stark, who uses bread and meat from Orillia Bakery and Deli and maple syrup from McCutcheon’s in Oro-Medonte.

“It’s nice for everybody to help each other out,” she said. “I feel very strongly about that.”

She enjoys being able to make those decisions, too, now that she’s her own boss.

“There’s that sense of freedom, of doing your own thing. No one’s standing over your shoulder.”

So far, the community has been eating it all up.

“It has been phenomenal,” she said of the support she has received since opening The Cheesy Pickup on May 7. “It touches my heart to hear the response from everybody, to see how much they’ve embraced us and welcomed us to the community.”


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Nathan Taylor

About the Author: Nathan Taylor

Nathan Taylor is the desk editor for Village Media's central Ontario news desk in Simcoe County and Newmarket.
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