Ryan and Kennedy Wilson are living the dream. The young married couple have not only found each other, but they are making a living doing what they love —serving up delicious, made-from-scratch dishes.
The Wilsons are the owners of the Ciao Sandwich Co. in Timmins. While the business started up this summer, their story began a while ago.
“We met at school, at Humber College,” Ryan said.
“We went there for health sciences and worked in our graduating field for a little bit,” Kennedy said. “Cooking has always been our passion. Ever since we got together as a couple, we were always cooking for each other.
“We always knew if we were going to start a business, that would be the realm we would be in, the food industry.”
They picked up business experience while still working.
“I helped my mom start an online business in town,” he said. “We’ve been running that business for her for the past two years. But we knew we always wanted to do something for ourselves.
People would always tell us we should sell our food.
“We have a passion for Italian cuisine. Kennedy went to Italy as part of a grad trip in high school.”
It was an experience that would shape their future.
“Eating there is just so amazing,” she said. “It’s not like anything you can get here.
“I was telling Ryan you can get these sandwiches there you can just grab on the street. And they are so fresh and amazing.
“During COVID, we started making our own focaccia bread and started playing around with recipes. When we moved to Timmins, we started making them into sandwiches and realized how delicious they were. That was kind of the original idea. It felt like it happened overnight.”
They decided to sign up for the Downtown Timmins BIA’s Urban Park Market.
"We showed up there to sell sandwiches and the rest is history," Kennedy said.
“The Urban Park Market was coming up and I thought we should sign up for that just to try it out to see how it does. The first market we sold almost all the sandwiches. After the second market, we sold out every single time. It just took off.”
These aren’t just any old sandwiches. They are fresh and delicious, transporting customers in Downtown Timmins to the streets of Italy.
“We both have a passion for cooking from scratch,” he said. “I love bread making. The bread we start two days before we bake it. We ferment it at least 24 hours to 48 hours.”
“They are all inspired by traditional Italian sandwiches,” she said. “Then we just put our own twist on it.”
It starts with the bread. He came up with a product just for Timmins customers.
“The bread recipe is our own,” Kennedy explained. “I spent a while getting a focaccia that we felt was good enough. The one’s in Italy, it’s a more chewy and dry type of bread. Where ours is moister and really a fluffy type of bread. Although they look the same, ours is a lot softer and easier to eat.”
The couple developed a menu that was devoured by the crowds in the market.
“We had four main sandwiches that had meat on them and then we introduced a vegan sandwich, so people who don’t eat meat or have intolerances can enjoy it,” Kennedy said. “The two best sellers were our Tacchino Provola and our Calabrese Caprese.
“The Tacchino was a turkey and pesto, which people really liked. The Calabrese was a spicy salami and mozzarella. We also did a unique mortadella and pistachio. That had a really cool pistachio cream on it that we make.”
The spreads don’t come from a jar. At the Ciao Sandwich Co., it has to be homemade.
“One of the biggest things is the spreads we make from scratch,” he said. “We make our pestos from scratch.
“We make basil pesto, a sun-dried tomato pesto, which is really good. We do a pecorino cream too. It’s pretty much parmesan with a little bit of water and you just immersion blend it until it emulsifies into a really nice cream. And the pistachio cream. We take pistachios, parmesan cheese and olive oil and turn them into a nice base.
“Nothing on there is pre-made.”
Quality has been vital to their success.
“One of our main things we tell people is that everything is made from scratch,” she said. “It’s homemade. We don’t substitute store-made ingredients for our own. You can taste the difference in the final product.
“I think we’re living in a world where people are looking for more fresh options, healthy options. Something that’s not just coming out of a box and cooked by someone else.”
Even the deli meats used are as fresh as possible.
“The meat, so far, is the only thing we haven’t been able to make,” Ryan said. “We do slice our own meat. So, every time we make a sandwich, we slice the meat fresh. We get the whole thing, like at a deli, and have a meat slicer.
“It’s all as fresh as possible. The bread is always made only a few hours before.”
The couple has also expanded their menu options for catering.
“Catering is one of our biggest avenues we’re pursuing,” Kennedy said. “There’s lots of catering opportunities for businesses in town, especially over the holidays.”
“If people are having a business meeting over lunch, we’ll go and have as little as six sandwiches. Or if there is a big holiday party, we’ve done 200 people, that sort of thing.”
Currently, the couple operates out of the cafeteria at Collège Boréal. Not only does the student body have access to fresh dishes, the public can stop in to eat or grab some tasty takeout.
“It’s nice that Collège Boréal has let us open to the public when we run our breakfast and lunch service,” she said. “People can sit down and enjoy the space because it is a really nice space in here.
“The students are free to come and purchase from us. And anyone can come in, we’re open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. every day. We do see a lot of people come in and see us from the Urban Park Market, who bought for us.”
They also have made-from-scratch pizza, which has also been a big hit.
“We’ve been doing some events at Full Beard Brewing, which is exciting,” she said. “We cook pizza over there.”
They can also be found during the Christmas season at the Holiday Pop-up Shops in Downtown Timmins.
“And throughout the holidays we’re doing a few more pizza events, sandwiches,” she said. “We have two portable ovens and do them on-site. People come up, order them, we stretch the dough and put everything on it, then put it in the oven. All of our dough, Ryan does that fresh. It’s a really good pizza. Even our marinara sauce, we make that from scratch.
“Mainly our lunchtime caterings are sandwich, soups and salads. Our pizza catering, people can book us for that, but there is an additional service fee because we have to do it on-site and bring all of our equipment.”
Soup, done well, is an underrated dish.
“We do homemade soups,” Kennedy said. “We usually do three or four homemade soups in a week. Today, for example, we’re doing chicken and wild rice soup. I started that this morning. It’s all from scratch.
“A soup and a sandwich, it’s like a perfect pair. Especially in the cold weather, it’s what people need.
“We’ve done roasted red pepper and tomato. We do broccoli cheddar. We do a chili. We’ve done butternut squash. We like to alternate and keep it seasonal.”
They also have a variety of salads available.
“Salads, we like to alternate those too. We do some pasta salads. We do lettuce salads. It’s all fresh.”
They update their menus constantly on their website and Facebook Page.
“We have a contact form on our website,” she said. “We try to get back to people within 24 hours. The website has our holiday menu, our catering menu, everything they need. They can always find us on Facebook and Instagram as well.”
The couple is not looking back. They are happy with the decision to start their own business.
“So far, this has been a dream come true for us,” Kennedy said. “Four months ago, we were working jobs and weren’t really certain as to what we want to do. We wanted to make sure that we were both doing something that we really love. We’ve been able to quit our full-time jobs and do this now.
“It’s happened really fast and we’re super thankful for the community support. Without the community, we wouldn’t have been able to get to the point that we’re at so fast. In the future, we’re really hoping to open up a location downtown and kind of bring back a coffee house vibe, a sandwich shop — something that is nice for people to enjoy.”
“We feel lucky that we come and get to do this every day,” Ryan said. “This is what we love doing.”
The Ciao Sandwich Co. is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m at the Timmins campus of Collège Boréal. Visit their website here or follow them on Facebook.
