Fort's New Bakery Serves Up Food and Fun
By: David Deschesne
Fort Fairfield Journal, April 2, 2014
FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine—Sisters Bakery & Coffee Shoppe has opened in the former Goodhue’s 
Jewelers storefront on Main Street.
It is being run by three sisters, Narda Guiou, Heidi James and Carla Hayes.
Specializing in home-baked goods such as breads and pastries, the new diner has a warm, cozy, family style atmosphere that at once reflects the nature of the three ladies as well as that of the town of Fort Fairfield.
“We want to offer a quiet, relaxing, family atmosphere, a place to sit down and read, or socialize,” said Carla Hayes, who, like her sisters, Narda and Heidi, has a very contagious smile.
Narda says she’s always enjoyed walking into the ambiance of a bakery/diner and wants to give her customers that kind of place to relax and socialize with good company. “Heidi and I have always had a desire to own our own bakery and offer this kind of atmosphere to people. We have a lot of fun here and we love each other very much.”
All breads and pastries are homemade on site, with the exception of the donuts. The ladies also feature coffee that is custom ground and roasted right in Fort Fairfield at Aroostook Roast on Maple Grove Road. Some of the pastries are prepared by Megan Thompson, a recent graduate of Fort Fairfield High School and who has attended a culinary school for baking.
“We started planning a couple of years ago and came up with a rough draft for a business plan, but it never materialized,” said Guiou. “I guess the time wasn’t right. When this space became available we thought it would be an excellent opportunity for us to achieve our goal.”
The bakery, located in the former Goodhue’s storefront, was built last year by new building owners, John and Peggy Strid. John had operated it has a diner for a couple of months before making the space available for the Sisters.
In addition to pastries and homemade bread baked daily, Sisters also offers luncheon items with daily specials. “Wednesday is the new Saturday,” said Heidi as she noted beans, hot dogs, potato salad and homemade rolls—a traditional Saturday evening meal in Northern Maine—as the Wednesday luncheon special. “We do beans and hot dogs every Wednesday.”
Other specials are; Tuesdays, chicken stew; Thursdays, curry & rice and Fridays, fish chowder. “We also have ‘Mystery Monday’ where we make up the daily special as we go.”
Sisters also offers light sandwiches of Tuna, egg, or chicken salad all made on their homemade bread as part of their daily luncheon offering. “If you want some of the sandwich salads to take home, we sell it that way, too.”
Heidi also notes every day is Chili day at Sisters as there is always a hot pot of the spicy treat ready on the stove.
The ladies also suggested FFJ editor, David Deschesne, who is a pretty good cook too, could be an ‘honorary sister’ and come in to guest-bake some of his special dishes such as baked macaroni & cheese casserole, homemade lasagna, cowdogs in a blanket (Angus beef hotdogs baked in his own, proprietary bread dough) and Chicago-style pan pizza. Deschesne is currently an honorary member of the Fort Fairfield V.F.W. Ladies Auxiliary and cooks the hotdogs for them at their annual Veteran’s Day luncheons.
The hours for dining in at Sisters are 7am—3pm Monday thru Friday, with lunch beginning at 11am. But, the sisters are there until at least five or six o’clock in the evening baking. “We keep the door open while we’re here cooking, for those who want to stop in and purchase some of our bakery items,” said Heidi.
“We want to thank our mom, Muriel LaPointe for her encouragement in many ways for this new venture. Thank you, mom. We love you.”
