Toronto's unique soft serve spot is permanently closing after 10 years

If you're a kefir lover in Toronto, you'll want to know that what might just be one of your favourite shops is closing down.

deKefir specialized in kefir, a soured milk product with eastern European origins which they served up in the form of parfaits, soft serve and smoothies.

View this post on Instagram

Here we are back in 2010, excitedly anticipating the opening of our little kefir shop! Over the past few months, we here at deKEFIR have been hoping that you all are staying safe and healthy during these times. Thank you for your lovely emails over the past few months in regards to the future of deKEFIR. It is with great sadness that we are announcing the permanent closure of our business. Teresa and I had been working over the options we have to keep our business operating, but in light of the uncertainty in Toronto’s financial district and the food and hospitality sector in general, we’ve chosen to end our ten year run. Our location on Bay Street is now permanently closed. Our Liberty Village location will remain open until August 31st. At this time, we’d like to extend our thanks for Brookfield Properties for taking a chance on two young entrepreneurs a decade ago and being so gracious and supportive during the past few months. We are forever grateful to our staff - our family, really - for loving and caring for our customers and our business like it was their own. Our team nurtured the growth of our business, celebrated our wins with us, and we have missed you all immensely the past few months. To our families and friends, we’re forever indebted to you for your unconditional support and love over the past decade. Lastly, we could not have built a kefir business from the ground up if it were not for our loyal customers. You shared your love of kefir with us and your friends, spread the word, gave us your thoughts and opinions, and we had the privilege to witness career milestones and your children growing and hear about family vacations. We are saddened that we can no longer serve you, but we will always look back on our time spent with you with fondness. If there’s anything we’ve learned the past ten years, it’s that collectively, we’re creative and resilient. The industry will bounce back and will thrive again one day, and while none of us can predict what that’ll look like, we have no doubt that if we all do our part now in curbing the spread of COVID-19, small businesses will thrive again in Toronto. Peace, love, and health, Teresa & Valerie

A post shared by deKEFIR (@dekefir) on Jul 31, 2020 at 1:02pm PDT

The small company took to social media to announce that they have permanently closed their Financial district location in the Path, and will close their Liberty Village location at the end of the month.

"Teresa and I had been working over the options we have to keep our business operating, but in light of the uncertainty in Toronto's financial district and the food and hospitality sector in general, we've chosen to end our ten year run," read the announcement, signed by business owners Teresa and Valerie.

The announcement also thanks their landlords, staff, friends, families and customers.

by Amy Carlberg via blogTO