WHAT IS IT
Gold Bars Dessert is a travelling dessert shop that opened in March 2020. From butter tart bars to brownies, the shop specializes in dessert bars. Gold Bars Dessert offers holiday-themed bars and uses seasonal ingredients.
They offered Easter egg brownies around Easter, peach cobbler bars during Ontario’s peach season in August, pumpkin spice bars in October and are currently selling holiday cranberry bars and candy crunch brownies for the holiday season.
Gold Bars Dessert has also partnered with the Hamilton-based specialty coffee company Detour Coffee to offer their whole beans. Gold Bars sells espresso and medium roast, which were handpicked to pair with their dessert bars.
The dessert business combines owner Germaine Collins’ love of adventure with her love of sweets. The adventure lover has created a business that allows her to travel and connect to people through food.
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HOW TO GET IT
While the shop doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar location, they frequent farmers’ markets and host pop-up shops. In the summer and early fall of 2020, Gold Bars Desserts was a weekly vendor at Connon Nurseries’ Fall Farmers’ Market in Waterdown. They also did a Christmas pop-up at Connon Nurseries on Nov. 28. Check their website and social media to find out where they’ll be next.
When they are not at a market, Gold Bars dessert does local doorstep drop-offs. If you’re located in the Greater Hamilton area, Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga or Toronto, you can order online for next-weekend delivery. The delivery days are announced on their website and on their social media.
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THE COST
At markets, you can buy individual bars for $3. For doorstep drop-offs, Gold Bars Desserts sells the boxes of bars on their website. A box of nine bars is $20 to $25 depending on the type. Each bar is about the size of a coaster. The delivery is an additional $5.
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WHAT TO GET
You really can’t go wrong with any of these dessert bars. They’re all decadent, filling and beautifully decorated. I would definitely recommend the OG brownie if you’re a chocolate fan because even after a couple of days, the brownie is still moist and rich inside. If you’re not a chocolate fan, I’d recommend the blondies or lemon bars.
If there is a seasonal dessert bar when you’re looking to purchase, definitely try that. I tried the cranberry holiday bars and it gave Starbucks’ cranberry bliss bars a run for its money.
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WHY IT'S GREAT
Gold Bars Desserts is perfect for the sweet tooth who adores a large, classic brownie or dessert bar. The variety of flavours and the seasonal creations make it an exciting business to visit month after month.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the perfect way to support a small business and satisfy your sweet tooth without having to leave your house. Having Collins visit my house on a Sunday afternoon to deliver me handmade sweets was the highlight of my weekend. With the pretty packaging and Collins’ handwritten notes, Gold Bars Dessert bars make the perfect gift for your loved ones.
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On Feb. 3, Hamilton Health Sciences, a billion-dollar consortium of hospitals and health care providers, got a new boss.
Rob MacIsaac left Mohawk College, after five years as the school’s President, to take the helm of Ontario’s second-largest healthcare system.
MacIsaac came into the role with considerable experience as a leader in public service and a history of successful management but no healthcare experience.
“It’s a big learning curve for me but I’m enjoying it. There is lots of great support here,” he said. “In the early going, the best strategy is to listen and learn, so that’s what I’ve been doing.”
He continued “The board obviously didn’t hire me because of medical expertise. They hired me to lead the organization and those [leadership] are skills I’ve been working on for a long long time.”
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MacIsaac also notes that his experience in public service will be valuable.
“I’ve been working in public service for about 20 years. I have a lot of skills that I bring from those other public service jobs into this job,” he said. “I enjoy policy and I enjoy trying to make my community a better place—that’s what brought me here.”
Before becoming the President of Mohawk, he also served as the Chair of GO Transit and Presto operator Metrolinx. Before that, he was a City Councillor and then Mayor of Burlington.
Depending on performance, MacIsaac will earn between $540,000 and $650,000 annually. This is not, at all, far off from the salary of outgoing CEO Murray Martin who took home $647,465 in 2012.
The job will not be without its challenges. MacIsaac identifies two major issues that he, and the rest of the healthcare industry, will have to deal with in the coming years.
“We have the emergence of two mega-trends…we have a rapidly aging population and at the same time the provincial government is running a deficit,” he said.
Meeting the needs of an older population on a potentially smaller budget will be the biggest test for the industry, according to MacIsaac.
Despite the challenges, and still learning the ebbs and flows of healthcare world, MacIsaac is optimistic about his tenure as CEO.
“I’m really excited about the job. I think it’s going to be a challenge. It’s a wonderful opportunity,” MacIsaac told the Spectator.
