Only a faint outline of the words “Action anti tech” remained on the brick wall outside a bakery in Montreal this weekend after someone smashed the store’s front windows overnight Wednesday.
It was the second time in less than three months the Saint-Denis St. location of the Mamie Clafoutis bakery chain had been targeted.
“I was at home, I was sleeping when the police called me 45 minutes after midnight to tell me my windows had been smashed,” recounted Nicolas Delourmel, co-founder and owner of the bakery chain. “I was there half an hour later.”
The Saint-Denis location is one of two Mamie Clafoutis locations that switched to a “self-service” model two years ago, where customers serve themselves. On May 1, a group of masked individuals walked into the store during business hours, took bread and spray-painted anti-capitalist graffiti before leaving.
Later, an anonymous group took credit for the theft, saying it was protesting the alleged use of facial recognition technology in Mamie Clafoutis’ self-serve locations. The owners of the store have denied using this technology.
This week, nothing was stolen. Security camera footage from the inside of the store shows an object hitting the glass until it shatters, followed by someone running away.
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“It was really just to hurt, to break — someone who isn’t happy with the system,” said Delourmel. “But if we start to break stores every time we don’t agree … I don’t know where we’re going anymore, but we’re not going down the right path.”
The incident follows other recent targeting of food businesses in Montreal.
Earlier this year, the activist group Robin des Ruelles claimed responsibility for two organized thefts at Montreal grocery stores, saying the stolen food would be distributed through community fridges and to low-income residents.
The group said its actions were meant to protest rising food prices and the profits of large grocery chains. Police investigated both incidents, but no arrests had been announced as of earlier this year.
Delourmel co-founded the first Mamie Clafoutis bakery in 2008, in the Montreal neighbourhood of Outremont. Over the next few years, they opened more stores, and the chain now has six locations in Montreal and one in Ottawa.
In 2024, two of the Montreal stores were renovated to become self-service bakeries. These locations are now open 24 hours a day, with customers able to check in after opening hours with an online form.
On Saint-Denis St., the counter and pastry displays were replaced by a collection of stands where customers can grab what they’re looking for. A coffee counter has two taps from which the desired combination of caffeine and milk flows out.
The shift to self-service stores was motivated in part by the post-pandemic labour shortage, said Delourmel. However, he said, the conversion did not lead to any job losses and the self-service locations still have cashiers who can help customers.
Recently, Delourmel has also turned to AI to produce promotional videos and photos, both for social media and in-store.
While most of the reactions online after the vandalism were words of support for the bakery chain, some took the opportunity to express their dissatisfaction with the company’s new model and technological shift.
Delourmel said he is used to receiving this kind of messaging. He said the economic instability of the last few years has pushed him to cut costs wherever he can. Though he said nobody was laid off when the self-service model was introduced, many positions in the bakery’s accounting, communications and marketing divisions were cut after the pandemic.
“Why? Because the economy crashed — it’s that simple,” he said.
Delourmel said repeated vandalism and frequent break-ins are likely to increase insurance costs, expenses he said will eventually be passed on to customers.
“We’re a small business,” he said. “We do what we can with what we have.”
A Montreal police spokesperson said investigations are ongoing into this week’s vandalism and the theft in May. No arrests have been made.
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