Calgary’s Alforno Bakery and Café Expanding to Canmore

Calgary-based bakery and café Alforno is expanding into Canmore this winter, bringing its Italian-inspired coffee, house-made pastries and chef-driven café menu to the Bow Valley.

The Canmore location will be the ninth Alforno location and the brand’s first outside Calgary. According to Mathew Batey, Alforno’s chief operating officer and director of culinary, the new location is planned to open by the end of 2026. 

The flagship location, Alforno Bakery & Café, located in Calgary’s Eau Claire neighbourhood, offers a full-service sit-down restaurant, while the other “café-style” locations focus on coffee and grab-and-go food such as baked goods and sandwiches. For the Canmore location, however, the company plans to add something slightly different.

While the Canmore location will operate primarily as a café-style Alforno, it will also include a small kitchen, allowing the team to take the café’s culinary offering a step further than at some of its other locations.

“There will be a bit of an elevated culinary concept at that location,” Batey said.

Customers can expect baguette sandwiches, croissants, muffins, breads and select pastries, alongside Alforno’s coffee program.

The company describes its approach as Italian-inspired coffee, handcrafted pastries, expertly prepared food and warm hospitality, with its baked goods and breads made daily from scratch.

Why Canmore?

For Batey, the decision to expand into Canmore is partly about proximity.

The company is based in Calgary, roughly an hour from the Bow Valley, and already has customers who travel between Calgary and Canmore for recreation, vacations and second homes.

But Batey said the company also sees an opportunity to build a relationship with people who may not already know the Alforno brand.

“The Canmore area just continues to grow at such an amazingly positive rate,” he said. “Being a part of that really great energy is something that we’re really excited to be.”

He also said the company’s connection to the Bow Valley is not limited to the business opportunity.

According to Batey, many members of the Alforno and Teatro Group teams regularly spend time in the mountains, including skiing, hiking and cycling. Batey said he has participated in Rocky Mountain Cycling Club races in Canmore in previous years.

“We love the Bow Valley,” he said. “We love being in Canmore.”

A family-owned Calgary business

Alforno is part of the family-owned Teatro Group, the Calgary restaurant company behind Teatro and several other restaurant and café concepts. Teatro Group has operated in Calgary since the opening of its flagship Teatro restaurant in 1993. Alforno itself launched in 2015 and has since grown to locations across Calgary.

Alforno’s expansion into Canmore comes as Teatro Group continues to be led by the second generation of the Berloni family.

Mia Berloni is president and CEO of Teatro Group, which remains a family-owned business. She took over the company’s leadership as her father, Dario Berloni, stepped back from the role.

Dario Berloni’s interest in Italian café culture is part of the story behind Alforno. The company says the brand’s name comes from the Italian word for “oven,” and that the concept was inspired by Berloni’s appreciation for the relaxed style of Italian cafés.

Batey, who has worked with Teatro Group for nine years, said the family ownership is an important part of the company’s identity.

“I think that’s a really big part of our story in Canada, a really big part of our success,” he said.

He described Berloni’s leadership as part of a multigenerational approach to the restaurant business, with the company’s emphasis on quality, hospitality and taking care of guests carried forward into its newer locations.

Hiring locally

As construction continues, the company is also recruiting for the Canmore team.

Batey said Alforno intends for the majority of the staff to be people who already live in the Bow Valley, rather than relying primarily on employees transferring from Calgary.

The company is currently recruiting for its leadership team and is working with a local employment organization as it begins hiring.

“We’re literally mid-recruitment right now,” Batey said.

Staffing in the Bow Valley comes with challenges, particularly around housing and the cost of living, something Batey said the company is aware of as it develops its hiring strategy.

He described the issue as something the company is “aware more than concerned” about.

“We understand the nuances of living in the Bow Valley and the realities of accommodations and the cost of living in the Bow Valley,” he said.

The goal, he said, is to build a local team capable of delivering the same level of service and food that Alforno has established in Calgary.

“We’re excited to be coming to the Valley,” Batey said. “We’re excited to be people who are stewards of the area and space as well.”