The Bannock Lady offers diverse menu to Thunder Bay shoppers
By Rick Garrick
THUNDER BAY — Pays Plat’s Jeanette Posine has been having success with her bannock burgers and other foods since opening up The Bannock Lady shop in Thunder Bay’s Intercity Shopping Centre in July 2021.
“It’s been going good, a lot of support from the community,” says Posine, who also sells her food at the concession stand at Chippewa Park on Lake Superior next to Fort William. “Through COVID-19, people had been calling me for deliveries and instead of deliveries and running all over the city, I decided to open a shop so that people can just come to me.”
Posine says her takeout menu includes bannock burgers, Indian tacos, pieces of bannock, fried bologna and bannock, fried Klik and bannock and beef on a bun, which is roast beef marinated in its juices and served on fried bannock.
“The bannock burger is what made me famous,” Posine says. “The burgers are made in a pasta sauce and they are sauteed for hours [and] put on our fried bread. It’s pretty messy to eat but people love it.”
Posine says her fried bread is made in the morning before the shop opens at 11 a.m.
“As they slowly cool down we wrap them and put them in a warmer so they stay at a steady heat,” Posine says.
Posine says they provide some seating in the shop, which is located next to the Marshalls department store.
“A lot of Elders come in and they will order a bannock burger or they’ll order a coffee and a slice of baked bannock and they’ll sit down and eat that,” Posine says.
Posine also started up a pre-ordered meal plan delivery service featuring spaghetti dinners, roast beef dinners, chicken dinners and a variety of soups, including chicken wild rice soup, during the COVID-19 pandemic for people who were unable to go grocery shopping.
“I decided to do some meals that we were eating at home,” Posine says. “Monday and Tuesday are my delivery days. People order enough meals for a week or they can order meals for three days.”
Posine also provides catering services for organizations and people in the city.
“They just contact me and if it’s about a tray of bannock for an event, I make that up and deliver it to them,” Posine says. “Or if they want soup and sandwiches for a luncheon, they can order that. Our famous Indian tacos and our bannock burgers are often ordered for their lunches. Our new item that we’ve added in the last year are bannock dogs for lunches.”
Posine recently provided a tacos in a bag snack for people who attended the Thunder Bay Art Gallery’s Summer Celebration Opening Party for its Woodland Pop! exhibition featuring 11 Indigenous artists.
“The taco in a bag is just a bag of Doritos with ground beef, lettuce, cheese, tomato and a side of sour cream and salsa,” Posine says. “[We] just give them a fork and they can actually walk around with it and mingle with other people.”
Posine says she began her business about 20 years ago after her bannock was a big hit at Thunder Bay’s Annual Folklore Festival.
“For the last 12 years, I’ve run the concession at Chippewa Park,” Posine says. “Before I opened here, people would travel all the way out there just to get a bannock burger.”
Posine also has a food trailer to sell her food at various city events such as National Indigenous Peoples Day and the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition (CLE).
“We’re really successful at the CLE for those particular five days,” Posine says. “National Indigenous Peoples Day is a big event, Wake the Giant (Music Festival) is a big event.”
Information about the Bannock Lady is posted at: bannocklady.com.