SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The owners of Breakaway Fitness Centre are partnering with a red-seal chef to open a healthy foods cafe on the bottom floor of the gym.

Executive chef Robert Anthony George, together with Breakaway Fitness owners Kelly and Carey Robertson, will open The Breakaway Cafe, a healthy foods snack shop, on the ground floor of the gym early next month. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

The Breakaway Cafe is set to open on Nov. 2, serving up homemade soups, sandwiches, pastries, breads - all with a healthy twist, said Robert Anthony George, former executive chef at the Yellowknife Inn and part owner of the soon-to-open cafe.

"Everything's going to be made from scratch," said George, who has a long history of cheffing at resorts from Trinidad to Montserrat mountain, Spain.

"With sandwiches, I'm going to have my own house bread that I'm going to make fresh on the premises, a flax seed and honey bread.

"There isn't going to be any fried foods. We're going to use fresh vegetables and I'm going to make my own dressings," he said.

In addition to on-site food, George will provide catering services and meals to go.

Some examples include tandoori chicken with basmati rice, and roast jerk pork tenderloin - a recipe he learned while living in Jamaica, where he was born and lived for a long period.

"The other side of it is to try and tap into people who don't want to eat at home, a single person especially," said George. "It's hard to go to the grocery store and cook a chicken for yourself. You've got leftovers.

"Either this is a meal that I make up and freeze and offer a couple different types every week. Or, you pre-order it and you pick it up between five and six ... you can take it home with you and away you go."

George likens the cafe to The Split Pea, a similar operation that closed in 1996.

"In its time, it was really busy and it was the same premise. They did all their own baking."

Breakaway co-owner Kelly Robertson said she and her husband thought up the cafe more than a year ago. When George recently began working the desk at the gym on a part-time basis, they floated the idea to him and found the perfect partner, she said.

"This is a fairly large space, in our reception area, and we were trying to come up with some good ideas of what would fit with the gym in terms of health and fitness," said Robertson.

"One of the ideas we tossed around was healthy foods. Lots of people come here at lunch time. There's lots of government buildings. This would be a place where they can come get healthy smoothies, sandwiches, soup.

"We knew (Robert) was a chef, and so we asked him his ideas."

Of George, Robertson said, "He's got a lot of experience and background. He's highly motivated and he's very excited about this venture."

Despite being located in a gym, the cafe will be aimed at all health-conscious eaters, whether they take to a treadmill or not.

"We're definitely hoping to market it outside the gym," said Robertson.