{"id":78719,"date":"2025-11-09T06:15:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T11:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/?p=78719"},"modified":"2026-06-24T10:29:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T14:29:23","slug":"the-unforgettable-recipe-of-my-success-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/linoubliable-recette-de-mon-succes-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"The unforgettable recipe of my success"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Early in the story of Cora restaurants, around the time when we had opened our sixth or seventh Quebec restaurant, people from all over the \u201cbelle province\u201d began to take notice of us. Families drove kilometres, crossed bridges and lined up at our doors to enjoy a Cora meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expecting a magnificent Taj Mahal of restaurants, these new customers rushed into a delicious cloud of aromas, mingling vanilla, French toast, cinnamon and cr\u00eapes. Their wide eyes looked for extravagance, opulently decorated walls, fine cutlery and fancy waitress uniforms. None of that was true. What they did find was a big grin on every face, interjections of delight coming from every table and plates bearing extraordinary looking dishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a space that looked as if it had been patched together by a crew of resourceful teenagers, with the names of dishes in big, attractively drawn letters on the walls, this new restaurant concept gave customers a lot to talk about. Not to mention that we served primarily breakfast dishes, with a small lunch selection for people working nearby. Plus, with an early closing time of 3 p.m. come rain or shine, customers couldn\u2019t dawdle if they wanted to enjoy a meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This huge chorus of compliments reached the ears of the Quebec business establishment.
\u2014 \u201cWho is this middle-aged woman who\u2019s appeared out of nowhere? Where did this new restaurant concept of only serving breakfast come from? From Europe? The U.S.?\u201d
\u2014 \u201cFrom her own head,\u201d answered the assistant manager of an insurance company to his boss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember him clearly! He was a fine young man, who, one Sunday, bravely made his way across the restaurant, navigating the waitresses zig-zagging between tables and the coffee pots swinging to and fro from the fingers of inexperienced busboys. I was in the kitchen of a newly opened restaurant keeping a watchful eye on operations. My heart, hungry for love, was absorbing every burst of delight emanating from the tables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 \u201cMme Cora, here\u2019s my card. We\u2019d like you to share your \u201crecipe for success\u201d with employees at our insurance firm. We\u2019d be pleased to have you\u2014your reputation precedes you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That Sunday, after the man greeted me with his hand over his heart, my neurons simply froze, unable to transmit anything to the rest of my body that had been thrown into disorder. Cooking came easy to me. Explaining a recipe to my kitchen staff was child\u2019s play. But speaking in front of a group of people so full of self-assurance that they are capable of selling it was something different altogether. It was as if a lion had just entered my cage. I was terrified. I had never given our success any real thought and certainly had never tried to put it into a \u201crecipe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the next day, an angel who knew what my future had in store for me, entered my head and switched my brain back on. The day I had decided to make real cr\u00eapes immediately popped into my mind. Cr\u00eapes like my mom used to make at home in Gasp\u00e9sie. I remembered the thick white batter that she poured into a large skillet, the cr\u00eape\u2019s crispness on my tongue, the delicious flavour exploding in my mouth. I\u2019d just realized the secret of my success: a lot of hard work and quality ingredients. The analogy proved to be true, and the knowing angel insisted that I base my recipe for success on my mom\u2019s cr\u00eape recipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So here is the famous recipe that has been explained dozens and dozens of times in front of different audiences at schools, universities, businesswomen\u2019s associations, entrepreneur gatherings and large companies. I even managed to bumble my way through an English version of it for a TEDx Talk which you can still watch on YouTube<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a large bowl of your choosing (a metaphor for a physical space, a vessel containing your business idea):<\/p>\n\n\n\n