Pavneet Singh's goal was to become a chemical engineer eight years ago, but his love of food and the discovery of an untapped market took him on a different path.

Singh owns Blends and Curries that started at Cambrian College in 2018 and then expanded to the Laurentian University campus after that.

Since then, Blends and Curries has popped up at other post-secondary institutions in Ontario like Georgian College in Barrie and Mohawk College in Hamilton and a few sites in the Kitchener Waterloo area.

"I was new to Canada at the time, and really wanted food from home," Singh said. "I studied what people would want and recognized it was authentic food with a blend or fusion for Canadian audiences."

Singh, originally from Punjab province, served up a simple menu featuring five meals featuring south Asian spices and two drinks in the beginning.

Blends and Curries

"Butter chicken was a no-brainer and mango lassis and chai to sip," he adds.

Since then, the menu has morphed into something more manageable and cost and labour effective that students and staff alike crave.

Singh's chain looks different depending on where you go.

He said some are restaurants, and others offer menu items that are sold, but all that food being served is prepared right here in Sudbury.

"When developing items I have to consider transportation, food handling and distribution," he adds.

A closer look

The Cambrian location offers sister company Shake-A-Tea which features bubble tea, but not all the locations do.

"After the pandemic lockdowns were over in 2022, I decided to introduce bubble tea to the Cambrian campus. At the time it was the first and only bubble tea spot in the city.

Some do both and some are just curries and not blends.

Singh said he recently bumped into an old professor who asked how chemical engineering was going.

He said he has no regrets and has already expanded his business to include a fresh produce delivery company down in southern Ontario.

What happens next

Singh said butter chicken is the fan favourite along with samosas and shawarma.

He said the chai tea is pretty famous too.

"Some customers order four to five cups of chai per day," he said. "At one of my southern Ontario locations, it is not unreasonable to sell hundreds of cups of chai per day."

Singh said lunches are busiest as both Sudbury post-secondary campuses.

He said despite the rising cost of food, he has not made price increases in two years, recognizing his customers are mainly students who are already trying to make ends meet.

What you need to know

And while the current market isn't great, he is hopeful for improvements in 2027.

Both the Laurentian and Cambrian campuses have different hours of operation.

You can visit the Facebook and Instagram pages to learn more about both Blends and Curries and its sister company Shake-A-Tea.

Anastasia Rioux is a writer in Greater Sudbury. Let's Eat! is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.

I was new to Canada at the time, and really wanted food from home.

The wider picture

Menus are the clearest record of what diners actually wanted, since every change reflects something that did or did not sell.

The short version

  • Pavneet Singh's goal was to become a chemical engineer eight years ago
  • Since then, Blends and Curries has popped up at other post-secondary institutions in Ontario like Georgian College in Barrie and Mohawk College in Hamilton and a few sites in the Kitchener Waterloo area
  • "I was new to Canada at the time, and really wanted food from home," Singh said
  • "Butter chicken was a no-brainer and mango lassis and chai to sip," he adds
  • Since then, the menu has morphed into something more manageable and cost and labour effective that students and staff alike crave

By the numbers

  • Singh owns Blends and Curries that started at Cambrian College in 2018 and then expanded to the Laurentian University campus after that
  • "After the pandemic lockdowns were over in 2022, I decided to introduce bubble tea to the Cambrian campus
  • While the current market isn't great, he is hopeful for improvements in 2027

The bottom line

The details will firm up over the coming months. What is already clear is that this is unlikely to be the last we hear of it.