'A real loss for the community:' Rideau Bakery closes after almost 90 years
Joanne Laucius, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: July 1, 2019
Ottawa’s historic Rideau Bakery has closed.
The bakery, which had locations on Rideau Street and Bank Street, was an Ottawa institution with roots in the Depression era. The bakery’s slogan, which unfurled under its blue-and-white logo, was “Where family tradition is baked in.”
Known for its signature rye bread — although the bakery also produced other goods ranging from wedding cakes to catering platters — the bakery has been owned and operated by members of the Kardish family since 1930, when brothers David and Abie opened it at Rideau and Nelson Street, following recipes their mother Rifka brought from the Ukraine.
Four of David’s sons, Louie, Sam, Moe and Issie, later took over the business with the help of sisters Jennie, Libby and Ann. Until its closing, the bakery was run by a third generation, with David Kardish at the Rideau location and his brother Louis at the Bank Street store.
Rideau Bakery devotees have expressed their shock and dismay on social media.
“This is a real loss for the community after nearly 90 years of continuous operation. Nowhere makes rye and challah like them, I’m really hoping they’re continuing the commercial baking operation in some form,” noted one customer on Reddit.
Added a fan: “I have vivid memories of the old logo on the bags from the 80s/90s – sort of a fat baker that looked like the Michelin Man. Sad day for Ottawa, this place had a lot of history.”
Another customer called it a huge loss for Ottawa on Facebook.
“I am not looking forward to testing 100 other kinds of bread to find one that is even close to their deliciousness. Too bad I didn’t know, I would have filled my freezer with cornbread and light rye, ok a few challah too.”
In 2007, the bakery was the subject of “One of the Last,” a documentary that told the story behind the bakery’s kosher, yeast and sugar-free loaves, made from a recipe from Kamianets-Podilskyi, a city in southern Ukraine and Rifka Kardish, who started making the bread in her kitchen to support 12 children and her husband Moishe, a Hebrew teacher.
It’s not implausible that Rifka could have brought a centuries-old starter with her when she came to Canada, said Debbie Kardish Baylin. Some members of the family would later branch into other areas of the food business, including a deli and a bulk and natural foods store.
In “One of the Last,” the siblings reflected on the the difficulty of running a family business.
“My father never really wanted me to go into the business, but I always had a passion for it,” said David in the documentary.
Added Debbie Baylin: “My father would be really upset if he knew I would be in the back packing orders. That was not what he wanted. This was not what he wanted for his kids.”
The bakery business can be a tough one. The business has weathered competition from mass-produced grocery store baked goods and having to increase its prices to keep up with the rising costs of expenses such as wheat, coca, vanilla and fuel, as well as the popularity of the Atkins and gluten-free diets.
In 2009, the bakery was told to stop shipping orders of about 500 loaves a week to three Real Canadian Superstores in Ottawa. The order came abruptly and without explanation, and the owners faced a steep loss of business. However, the bakeries were told to increase their deliveries to area Loblaws stores, which offset the loss.
“I guess they got a lot of feedback from the public,” Louis told the Citizen. “So they wanted to make sure that our customers are aware that our products are still in their stores and they wanted to up those orders and give us a little more prominence in their bakery sections.”
The Kardish family did not respond to requests for an interview but confirmed to CTV in an interview on Monday that the bakery was closing.
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https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...deau-bakery-closes-after-almost-90-years
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