Egged on by its success across the country, popular Cora’s chain gets cooking in St. John’s.

Eatery options in downtown St. John’s got a boost Monday when Cora Tsouflidou arrived at Atlantic Place to crack the first egg at Cora’s Breakfast and Lunch, celebrating the opening of her first restaurant in this province and 79th in the country.

“We’re so happy to be in Newfoundland,” said Quebec native Tsouflidou, as she watched a steady stream of customers come through the doors. “For us, it’s like my wildest dream coming true. I never imagined that we would grow that much and that I would come so far – and that people would love my food.”

Had it not been for her marriage breakup almost two decades ago, Tsouflidou may never have bought an abandoned snack bar in Montreal. Nor would she likely have found herself serving breakfast to make ends meet.

“After, unfortunately, a divorce, I had to earn my living. So, I sold my house and I bought a small snack bar and I start to cook what they were serving that time in restaurants,” she said with a laugh. “The kitchen table, the pots and pan and the dishes and everything. Because I was that poor.”

While she initially focused on what other restaurants in her area were serving for breakfast, Tsouflidou became convinced that customers would also enjoy the kind of home-cooked meals that she’d grown up on.

“My mother was a cook. She didn’t buy nothing outside, she’d fix everything – bread and jam. So, of course, I learned how to cook. And in that little snack bar I was the cook and started to tell my kids, what about we start to serve them real good food? Real pancake mix that I do myself, real breads. So, that’s how we started.”

Coming up with money to print menus was out of the question when she first started. “You see, drawings on the wall – that’s how I started,” she said, explaining how, in the early days, she would take customer’s suggestions and draw pictures of menu items on the walls.

While there’s plenty of money to print menus now, the tradition of decorating the walls with pictures of brightly colored food items continues in her restaurants today. Tsouflidou said when her first restaurant began dealing with lineups at the door, she knew it was time to open store No.2.

“My kids were working with me and they always wanted me to take a day off. So, one day, I say, ‘You’re going to keep that store and I’m going to open another little store where I will be working every day and nobody will want to push me out,” she recalled with a laugh.

“That’s how we opened the second one. Then I started to dream as a single mother; it would be good if each one of my kids had a store. So, my goal was to have four – (for the) three kids plus me.”

Cora’s Breakfast and Lunch chain includes 55 restaurants in Quebec and numerous others in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island. Cora’s is known for serving mounds of fresh fruit as well as cheese, cereals, crepes, omelets, pancakes, waffles and French toast.

All of the chain’s 100-plus recipes are inspired by family traditions, health trends, customer requests and ideas from her children, she said. The family restaurant chain has been recognized as a leader among breakfast eateries in the country and was recently named one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies.

Cora’s Breakfast and Lunch in St. John’s employs roughly 25 people and more are expected to be hired during the summer months. Local franchise owner Calvin Vincent also owns Oliver’s restaurant on Water Street. “As the first Cora’s franchise owner in Newfoundland, I have the pleasure of introducing the people of St. John’s to an amazing concept with exceptional food,” he said in a recent news release. “Cora’s does breakfast like no other restaurant I’ve seen. I think it’s going to be a huge hit.”

With windows facing the harbour and Signal Hill, the view from the restaurant is as colorful as the woman who came up with the idea and ran with it. “Half of the success will be the view here. It’s going to be easy to succeed. It’s totally amazing,” Tsouflidou said.

Cora’s Breakfast and Lunch is open Monday to Saturday from 6 am to 3 pm an dSundays from 7 am to 3 pm.

By Danette Dooley, Special to the Telegram, Tuesday, February 14, 2006