Bakers Journal 70th anniversary timeline

Join us as we take a trip down Memory Lane and look back on notable events in the baking industry over the past seven decades.

• Allied Trades of the Baking Industry forms in 1932.
• First issue of Bakers Journal published in July 1938
• National Council of the Baking Industry (NCBI) forms in 1939. First president is W.H. Harrison on Montreal. Secreatry is R.P. Sparks of Ottawa.

In the 1940s …

• Cost of ingredients used in bread skyrockets 50-60 per cent due to World War II. Maintenance and labour costs also go up dramatically, and bakeries are hampered by sugar rationing, lack of milk powder, shortages of shortening and loss of labour to military service. Still, sale of baked products rises 35-40 per cent during war years.
• Production Men’s Club of Ontario – forerunner to Bakery Production Club of Ontario – forms in 1942. First president is W.C. Cook.
• Montreal biscuit manufacturers form a production men’s club in 1944.
• VE Day: May 7, 1945. More than 1,500 members of the Canadian baking industry served during wartime. Twenty-five were killed in action.
• Price-fixing probe grabs headlines in 1948 as several bakeries and bakers’ associations in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia are investigated.
• Newfoundland becomes Canada’s 10th province in 1949. Prior to joining, enrichment of flour had been approved by the Newfoundland government, leading to the insertion of a special clause for the new province in the Terms of Union – and a federal government study of whether to allow flour enrichment for the rest of Canada.

In the 1950s …

• Bakers’ associations begin to embrace expansion as NCBI opens office in Calgary in 1952.
• Federal legislation allowing enrichment of flour enacted. First preview of enriched flour and bread products takes place Dec. 16, 1953, at Consolidated Bakeries Ltd. in Toronto.
• Bakery Foods Foundation – public relations arm of the NCBI – forms in 1953.
• Canada’s first school of baking established in 1954 at Ryerson Institute of Technology in Toronto.
• Ontario Bakers’ Association and NCBI merge Oct. 1, 1955, forming what would later become the Bakery Council of Canada.
• Ryerson’s baking program is suspended in 1957 due to lack of enrolment.
• In 1958, the new technology known as the continuous mix process revolutionizes the baking industry, allowing bakeries to meet increasing demand and turn out a superior product. Canada’s first continuous mix system is installed at Wonder Bakeries in Montreal, allowing it to produce 4,500 loaves per hour.
• Advent of continuous mix sparks debate over whether bread should be flavourful in its own right or merely a bland-tasting vehicle for delivering spreads and sandwich fillings. But as more European bakers leave war-ravaged Europe for Canada, consumers get the best of both worlds and are able to buy breads that suit their individual tastes and preferences.

In the 1960s …

• Consumer buying habits change dramatically as home delivery is phased out and the era of the supermarket dawns, forcing the baking industry to make significant changes, especially in the area of packaging. Wax wrap was out and polyethlylene was in.
• Population shifts in the early ’60s result in an increasing concentration of people living in cities and urban areas – up to 60 per cent of the entire population, according to estimates at the time – opening up new opportunities for not only larger commercial bakeries, but also specialty bakers as immigrants continued to arrive and settle in Canadian cities.
• In Toronto, small retail bakers begin to organize into groups such as the Associated Retail Bakers of Metro Toronto. Meanwhile, still trying to bring such retail bakers into their association, the NCBI establishes a retail bakers committee headed by Charles Carter of Bowmanville, Ont.
• Quebec bakers take a novel approach to co-operative business in 1964, banding together to form Les Boulangers Progressifs du Quebec Inc. and selling their products under a single, shared trademark: “Gailuron.”
• Despite the NCBI’s designs on a national organization for bakers, by the mid ’60s the Canadian baking industry was highly fragmented into many different associations. These included the Allied Trades of the Baking Industry (with chapters in the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario), Associated Bakers of Western Ontario, Associated Retail Bakers of Metro Toronto, Association of Retail Pastry Bakers of Montreal, Atlantic Provinces Bakers Association, Bakers of Saskatchewan, Bakery Council of Canada, Bakery Production Club of British Columbia, Bakery Production Club of Ontario, Bakery Production Club of Metro Winnipeg, Essex-Kent Bakers Association, Montreal Bakers Association, Toronto Hebrew Master Bakers and Victoria Bakery Production Club.
• The Ontario Bakers’ Association officially dissolves – or is absorbed by the NCBI, which changes its name to the Bakery Council of Canada and begins to focus largely on government affairs and consumer education.
• In 1964, the Bakery Production Club of Ontario hosts its first Bakery Showcase, an idea conceived by John Sernissi that has gone on to become one of the most successful and well attended events on the North American baking industry calendar.
• In 1968, Sylvia Jenkins comes from England to Canada for a two-month visit, and then later decides to immigrate. She goes on to become a prominent figure in the industry and a columnist for Bakers Journal.
• The ’60s were also a time of corporate takeovers and mergers. One of the most notable casualties was McGavin Foods, which was taken over by Maple Leaf and Ogilvie Flour Mills.

In the 1970s …

• Formal apprenticeship program for bakers established in Ontario under authority of the Apprenticeship and Tradesmen’s Qualification Act 1964.
• Canada Bread Co. Ltd. changes name to Corporate Foods Ltd.
• Bakery Council of Canada marks 25th anniversary with May 11-13, 1970, convention at Sheraton-Brock Hotel in Niagara Falls, Ont.
• Remember the days when athletes such as Joe DiMaggio and Dizzy Dean had their own chain of franchise restaurants? An article in our June 1970 issue, “Facts on Franchising,” discusses the pros, cons and costs of getting involved in the franchise game, and these baseball stars’ restaurants are listed as prime examples. The same article goes on to predict new geographical opportunities for franchising that have gone unrealized: “It is expected that within our lifetime, a bridge will be built from Alaska to Siberia … This would open up new markets for both Canadian and American businessmen.”
• Bakery Production Club of Ontario holds its 1970 Showcase Oct. 20-21 at Seaway Towers Motor Hotel in Toronto. The event attracts 1,009 attendees and 52 exhibitors.
• Loblaw opens a new supermarket featuring an ultra-modern in-store bakery in Toronto’s newest shopping centre – Fairview Mall at the top of the Don Valley Parkway – featuring Toledo scales, Hobart and Gilbert mixers, Milner retarder, Brantford rotary oven, Swift Jewel oil, Redpath sugar, Kraft sweet whey and a variety of ingredients and products by Rose & Laflamme.
• The Food Prices Review Board reveals that the bulk of bread sales in Canada is controlled by 30 bakeries.
• In June 1975, the Bakery Council of Canada holds its annual meeting at the Skyline Hotel in Ottawa. Grete Hale of Morrison Lamothe Foods Ltd. in Ottawa is re-elected president.
• Sylvia Jenkins’ book Bakery Technology, Part 1: Bread is published by Lester and Orpen Ltd. of Toronto. Jenkins, known in Canada, the U.S. and internationally for her baking expertise, goes on to join the Bakers Journal staff in the 1980s as technical editor.
• Packaging and labelling is a bone of contention in the baking industry in the mid-1970s as Canada prepares to switch to the metric system on March 1, 1976. At the Quebec Bakers annual meeting, Roland G. Verne of the province’s ministry of Consumer and Corporate Affairs comments on “Canada’s ill-advised drift into the quicksand of Europe’s dreadful metric system.”
• Liquid sponge comes to Canada, marking a milestone in the country’s bread industry, when Steinberg’s Bakery installs a three-tank liquid sponge system as part of an $8.5 million expansion of its Montreal facility.
• Canadian Baker Perkins closes its manufacturing operation in Brampton, Ont. Thirty-two union workers and 25 salaried personnel lose their jobs.
• The new Central Canadian Independent Bakers Association holds its first meeting Sept. 20-21, 1975, in Brandon, Man.
• Oh, how times have changed compared to this excerpt from an article about pricing by the Bakery Production of British Columbia, reprinted in the October 1975 issue of Bakers Journal : “Quality baked goods should be advertised, displayed, and sampled. Be sure your sales girls are knowledgeable about your products and use mouth-watering terms to create consumer acceptance.”
• The Bakery Council of Canada becomes a non-voting member of the American Bakers Association in a reciprocal agreement.
• Mixer manufacturer Hobart establishes a 21,000-square-foot distribution centre in Malton, Ont.
• In an action described as the most important of its 56-year history, the American Institute of Baking agrees in principle to relocate from Chicago to Manhattan, Kan., with a target date of summer 1977.
• Jean Paul Fagot, pastry chef at the Four Seasons Sheraton hotel in Toronto, bakes a 300-pound cake in honour of the 180th birthday of Toronto’s Yonge Street in 1975. The recipe calls for 600 eggs, 40 pounds of flour, 40 pounds of sugar and 30 pounds of butter.

From left: Oakville, Ont.-based Food City Bakery’s Gregg Smith and Diane Constable, with Vern Wood of Dover Flour Mills (Bakers Journal, April 1986).

In the 1980s …

• Bakers Journal adds new columns – “Ideas for Profit” and “Trouble Shooting” – as well as new voices Sylvia Jenkins and Fritz Bliedung.
• Thirty-eight retail bakeries in the Maritimes hold a debate on whether to form their own association or join the Atlantic Provinces Bakers Association (APBA). At a meeting on Nov. 21 in Moncton, N.B., they vote unanimously to join APBA.
• The Bakery Council of Canada (BCC) moves from its Bloor Street, Toronto, headquarters to a new office on the 10th floor of 415 Yonge St., Toronto.
• Lantic Sugar Ltd. of Montreal opens a new $1 million facility for storing and loading bulk sugar. Two 300,000-pound silos were also installed to ensure a constant sugar inventory.
• The inaugural World Student Culinary Competition is held April 23 in Toronto at HostEx 1985, pitting more than 10 college teams from across the country in the Taste of Canada contest. Canadian students go on to capture more than 60 per cent of the gold and silver medals at the event.
• Multi-Marques Inc. becomes the largest bakery in Canada as a result of the merger between Quebec’s Unipain Inc. and Le Groupe Samson Inc.
• Ten to 13 per cent of all retail bakery employees in Saskat-chewan and Manitoba are laid off as a result of a price war between McGavin and Weston bakeries. The companies slashed the price of bread to nine cents in some stores, making it impossible for independent bakers to compete, according to the Central Canadian Bakers’ Association.
• From our April 1985 issue: Five bags of chocolate chip cookies kept four fishermen alive when they abandoned their fishing trawler in rough seas off the coast of Massachusetts. The men were adrift in a life raft for 42 hours before being rescued. “Without God, and the supply of cookies, I don’t think we would have made it,” one of the crew said.
• Bloemhof Industries Ltd. of Edmonton begins using an innovative new tool for marketing its bakery equipment – video. A 26-minute videotape shows the company’s sheeters, moulders and baggers in operation in a variety of bakery settings. According to our report, “A nominal charge of $15 (plus C.O.D. charges) will be reimbursed upon return of the tape. Specify VHS or BETA.”
• A job-stress survey conducted by the U.S. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health reveals that bakers have the 29th most stressful job out of 130 occupations in the survey.
• Ulrich Pohl of Pohl’s Bakery in Vancouver is named president of the newly formed Pastry Chefs Guild of British Columbia.
• Weston Bakeries Ltd., a subsidiary of George Weston Ltd., buys most of the Ontario assets of General Bakeries Ltd. for $8-$9 million. Ironically, the deal means that Weston Bakeries, which is part of the same corporate family as Loblaw supermarkets, will be selling baked goods to Loblaw rival A&P.
• The inaugural Bakery/Pastry Exhibition, a three-day trade show for the baking and pastry industries, is held Oct. 13-15, 1985, at Place Bonaventure in Montreal.
• A new doughnut franchise, Holey Donuts!, arrives in southern Ontario. Supplied by Maple Leaf Foods, the franchise eschews franchise fees and deals with prospective buyers on a first come, first served basis.
• Multi-Marques Inc., Canada’s largest bakery, introduces the country’s first true milk bread, which will sell exclusively in Quebec under the Gailuron brand. Milk bread is touted as richer in calcium, more nourishing, staying fresh longer and tasting better than other breads.
• Canadian Tire outlets in Manitoba and Saskatchewan draw the ire of bakers when they begin to undercut retail bakeries by at least 30 cents on 18½-ounce loaves of white and brown pan bread.
• A U.S. consumer survey commissioned by the International Deli-Bakery Association reveals that price is the least important factor for customers buying food at bakeries and delis in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Phoenix and Seattle. The No. 1 concern is freshness, followed closely by cleanliness, quality of products, variety and service.
• George Brown College announces plans to build a new hospitality training institute in downtown Toronto, with a projected opening date of Sept. 1, 1987. The $150,000, 105,000-square-foot facility will include three bakery labs.
• New U.S. dietary guidelines favour foods with adequate fibre and starch – a positive development for bakers.
• Bjarne’s Cakes, a brand name of Calmar Bakery Ltd. in Calmar, Alta., becomes the first bakery business to set up shop in the enormous West Edmonton Mall. The business is run by Bjarne Kristensen, a Danish baker with more than 35 years of experience in the trade.

In the 1990s …

• Robin Hood Multifoods announces a restructuring of its operations due to opportunities brought on by the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.
• The Mister Donut chain is sold to Dunkin Donuts Inc., which takes over all 475 U.S. locations while its Canadian unit, Allied-Lyons PLC, absorbs the 83 Mister Donut fran-chises north of the border.
• In our January/February 1990 issue, we try to predict the decade to come in an article called, “Looking Ahead – Odyssey into 2001.” It quotes Bob Stross of the Creative Marketing Institute, who says a major trend of the 1990s will be consumers splurging on upscale, gourmet food products “almost without regard to cost.” It’s been a while since we’ve heard terms such as “upscale” and “splurge” associated with consumer spending.
• B.C. Sugar pays $110 million for a 50 per cent share in competitor Lantic Sugar Ltd.
• John McColl is promoted to national technical manager at Puratos Canada Inc. McColl is Bakers Journal’s technical editor and a member of the magazine’s editorial advisory board.
• Egon Keller is elected president of the Pastry Chefs Guild of Ontario, a position he continues to hold with the organization, which is now called the Canadian Pastry Chefs Guild.
• In our March 1990 issue, bakery consultant Sylvia Jenkins returns to the pages of Bakers Journal  with her Problem Solving for Bakers column.
• Berlin is chosen as the host city for the 1992 IBA bakery exhibition, which is traditionally held in a German city. The May 9-17 event will be the second edition of IBA to be held in Berlin.
• The results of Bakers Journal’s 1990 In-Store Bakery Survey are reported. Among the more notable data: Bake-off operations enjoy a 47 per cent share of the overall market while scratch/mix operations account for 42 per cent; overall industry unit growth is expected to be 9.3 per cent (down from 11.5 per cent the year before – and far less than today’s conservative growth estimates).
• Dempster’s launches its Organics line of organic bread, the first of its kind in Canada, citing consumers’ desire for “green” food and products. Twenty years later, “green” is bigger than ever.
• Exhibitor space for Bakery Showcase ’90, set for Oct. 21-23, sells out far in advance of the event at the International Centre in Mississauga, Ont.
• L&M Manufacturing Co. of Downsview, Ont., one of the oldest bakery equipment manufacturers in Canada, drastically scales down operations and lays off staff. It eventually closes but is resurrected by former sales manager Ivan Klopfer, who renames the company Global Bakery & Food Equipment Co. Ltd.
• The rapid growth of the U.S. Hispanic population results in more than $2 billion in growth for tortilla products, sparking the formation of the Tortilla Industry Association, based in Sherman Oaks, Calif.
• In July 1990, Ernest Naef returns to the editor’s desk at Bakers Journal, replacing Mike Solomon. Naef was editor and publisher of Bakers Journal  for more than 12 years until the magazine was acquired by NCC Publishing.
• The fifth annual Grocery Attitudes of Canadians Survey reveals that “What Does it Cost?” and “How Fresh Is It?” remain the top two questions of shoppers when confronted with a new food product.
• In our August/September 1990 issue, excerpts from a controversial letter are published detailing a U.S. manufacturer’s refusal of credit to a Quebec company due to fallout from the “political instability” caused by the failure of the Meech Lake Accord.
• In a precedent-setting move, Quebec baker Harry Schick becomes the first person to challenge the province’s controversial language law, pleading not guilty to Law 178. At his shop in Pointe Claire, a suburb of Montreal, he welcomes customers with signs in 35 languages, but the law says all exterior signs must be in French only while interior signs in businesses with less than 50 employees can be in French and a second language, as long as French predominates. When ordered to appear in court to face the charge, Schick protests by covering his store windows with black paper.
• At a cost of $235.5 million, New Jersey-based A&P buys 69 Miracle Food Mart and Ultra-Mart stores in Ontario, increasing its supermarket holdings in the province to 264.
• John Pendrith of Pendrith Bakers’ Equipment celebrates his 105th birthday on July 22, 1990.
• Pizza Pizza battles rival Chicken Chicken all the way to the Supreme Court of Ontario, alleging its former president, John Gillespie, breached a non-competition clause after he left Pizza Pizza and used confidential information to set up Chicken Chicken.
• Kien Bui, Sylvia Jenkins and Gerrard Wilbrink are awarded lifetime memberships in the Bakery Production Club of Ontario. Also in 1990, Bui is named director of research and development at W.J. Lafave and Sons.
• Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s add bagels to their menus.
• What’s believed to be the world’s largest cherry pie is baked in Oliver, B.C., to celebrate the town’s
• “Guinness Day.” (See photo on page 52.)
• Effective Oct. 1, 1990, Quebec’s minimum wage rises to $5.30 per hour. Minimum wage in the hotel and restaurant industries is set at $4.58
• per hour.
• Eastern Bakeries, the largest bakery in the Maritimes, celebrates the baking of its billionth loaf of Butternut white bread with a “Search for the Billionth Loaf” promotional event for customers reminiscent of Willy Wonka’s golden ticket contest.
• In a major shakeup to the industry, Canada Packers’ Maple Leaf Mills division and John Labatt Ltd.’s Ogilvie Mills division merge their flour and bakery operations, forming a partnership called Maple Leaf-Ogilvie.
• Gainsborough Kitchens, a division of Corporate Foods Ltd., launches Canada’s first pure vegetable-
• shortening frozen pie shell.
• Bakers brace for the implementation of GST, which comes into effect on Jan. 1, 1991. Bakers Journal  publishes a Baker’s Guide to the GST in our December 1990 issue.
• In 1995, U.S. coffee giant Starbucks Corp. announces it will open its first locations in Canada, starting with units in Chapters bookstores in Burlington, Ont., and Burnaby, B.C.
• Tim Hortons announces it will join forces with American fast-food chain Wendy’s in a deal worth US$400 million. Annual sales of up to $5 billion are forecast as a result of the merger.
• Bakers struggle to adapt to life without potassium bromate as it becomes illegal in Canada. An oxidizing agent that allows dough to better retain gas, it was popular for its role in producing good volume, or oven spring, in breads and rolls. To compensate, bakeries extended mixing times or turned to bromate-free dough conditioners.
• In an effort to gain control of the McCain Foods empire, Wallace McCain makes a $1.2 billion bid to take over Maple Leaf Foods Inc., which had recently acquired the Oakville, Ont.-based Buns Master Bakery Systems Inc. The bid for Canada’s largest baker and food processor is accepted. Meanwhile, subsidiary Maple Leaf Mills says it will carry on with business as usual via its joint venture with U.S. milling giant ConAgra Inc.
• Higher cookie, frozen dough, candy and dairy sales fatten the bottom line at George Weston Ltd. The Toronto-based company announces profits of $117 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 1994, compared with $57 million
• in 1993.
• The results of Bakers Journal’s 1994 In-Store Bakery point to a major shift from traditional scratch/mix baking to time- and labour-saving bake-off operations. Also on the increase are multi-grain breads, bagels, low-fat options and specialty/variety breads such as sunflower, rye, flax and sourdough.
• In our January/February 1995 issue, it’s reported that the now-dormant Bakery Production Club of Ontario has completed its final transfer of funds to the education account of the Ontario Chapter of the Baking Association of Canada, as specified in the amalgamation agreement of 1999 whereby the BPCO and other industry associations join forces with the newly created BAC.
• Paczki, a traditional Polish dessert similar to a rich, deep-fried doughnut, becomes a big seller thanks to a campaign by the National Paczki Committee. Intended to be a last sweet indulgence before Lent, paczki begin flying off the shelves and some Canadian bakers even march in Detroit’s famous Paczki Parade on
• Feb. 27, 1995.
• Cargill begins selling a new hard white wheat variety called Snow White, as well as a flour to be milled from that wheat.
• On Aug. 1, 1995, an era ends as grain transport subsidies cease, thereby putting the full cost of shipping grain from the Prairies on producers and secondary handlers. Under the Western Grain Transportation Act, the government of Canada had paid grain transportation subsidies to grain shippers for nearly 100 years.
• Canada’s third annual Breadfest takes place Sept. 22-30, 1995, in Calgary. Sponsored by the Southern Alberta Bakers Association, the event focuses on the benefits of bread and its importance as food for a healthful lifestyle.
• A branding makeover changes Robin Hood yeast to SAF-Instant yeast.
• Par-baked goods begin to make their presence known in the marketplace due to their consistency of quality, shortened production cycle, cost savings and excellent freshness and flavour.
• Tim Hortons opens its 1,000th store, in Ancaster, Ont.
• A bagel war looms in Montreal as Bagelville, a purveyor of bigger, crustier New York-style bagels, muscles in on the turf of popular merchants such as Bagel Factory and St. Viateur Bagel Shop.
• The launch of the Windows 95 computer operating system does not go unnoticed by Bakers Journal . We publish an article titled “Computerizing your business” in our October 1995 issue. Fifteen years later, it’s hard to imagine life, baking and business without computers involved in some way or another.
• In Quebec, the provincial government proposes to lift the ban on delivering bread on Sundays and Mondays, which had seen bakeries fined thousands of dollars for illegal deliveries. The rule was intended to ensure that unionized workers at large bakeries got weekends off. At the time it was enacted, most people consumed white pan bread that included preservatives, but the popularity of small bakeries delivering preservative-free specialty breads led to the change.
• In September 1995, a Montreal-area bakery sustains more than $7,000 in damages from a bomb blast possibly connected to a motorcycle gang war in the city. Les Aliments Teggiano, located in Dollard Des Ormeaux, 10 kilometres west of Montreal on the West-Island, is forced to throw out a whole day’s inventory and replace a glass display case and refrigerator door. No one is hurt in the blast.
• Tight world supplies, due in part to a drought in Australia, lead to a huge jump in Canadian grain exports – from 2.4 million to 29.8 million tonnes – despite a cap on exports to the United States.
• Employers in several provinces are faced with minimum wage increases implemented in 1995 or planned to take effect in 1996. New Brunswick’s went up to $5.50 per hour, Manitoba’s to $5.40, Quebec’s to $6.45, B.C.’s to $7 and Ontario’s to $6.85. Newfoundland’s minimum wage remained the lowest at $4.75 per hour.
• U.S. sugar makers threaten to stop shipping to Canada unless import duties ranging from $416 to $1,000 per tonne are eliminated.

• Robin Hood Multifoods invests $7 million in an expansion of the milling, packing and shipping division at its 70-year-old mill in Saskatoon, Sask.
• Blak’s Bakery, in Windsor, Ont., celebrates its 80th year in business.
• The Cinelli family and G. Cinelli-Esperia Corp. are honoured in the book EPIC: Italians of North America.
• Robin’s Donuts celebrates its 25th anniversary and opens a new location, its 245th in Canada, in White River, Ont.
• In what’s thought to be a first for separately owned and operated companies, Country Style Donuts and A&W open a jointly shared retail location in Mississauga, Ont.
• The Canadian International Grains Institute (CIGI) opens its new pilot plant for pasta production and renovated flour mill, built with $1.9 million in funding from the Canadian Wheat Board and Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council.
• George Brown College baking program co-ordinator Peter Scholtes retires after 17 years. During his career in the baking industry, he worked at Awries Bakeries in Detroit and Corporate Foods (now known as Canada Bread), serving at the latter for 13 years. “The baking industry has been good to me and I’m not sorry I picked it,” he said in the May 2000 issue of Bakers Journal.
• In our July 2000 issue, Bakers Journal  welcomes new editor Rebecca Maxwell, who succeeds Wendy Kudeba. A graduate of the University of Western Ontario, Maxwell grew up in Simcoe, Ont., and worked at Canadian Living, The Globe and Mail and several trade magazines prior to taking the reins at Bakers.
• The Barry Callebaut Institute, a multi-disciplinary centre for teaching and learning the
• many applications of cocoa and chocolate products, opens in St. Hyacinthe, Que.
• General Mills Inc. acquires Pillsbury from Diageo PLC for US$10.5 billion.
• In a transaction valued at US$18.9 billion, Philip Morris Companies Inc. acquires Nabisco, merging it with its subsidiary Kraft Foods Inc. The deal makes Kraft a world leader in cookies and crackers with 13 per cent of the market.
• Toronto City Council approves a new food-establishment inspection program that will require all 18,000 such businesses to display a coloured sign stating whether they are in compliance with the program’s health and safety requirements.
• Dempster’s adds a new red-and-gold seal to its white bread to signify to consumers that the bread is whitened through a natural process involving active enzymes found in soy flour, as opposed to a chemical bleaching process.
• In 2000, the Canadian Wheat Board celebrates its 65th year of marketing Canadian farmers’ grain.
• The International Dairy Deli Bakery Association’s “What’s In Store 2001” report reveals several trends to watch in the 2000s: breads and cakes lead bakery department sales; in-store bakeries’ contribution to store margin, sales and profit will hold steady; bakery sales are supported by co-branding; more supermarkets are featuring in-store bakeries; labour shortage is a major concern for in-store bakeries and independents alike.
• In January 1995, a seminar on trans fats hosted by the Ontario Chapter of the BAC attracts more than 200 people. In November 2004, the House of Commons had passed a motion to ban trans fats from foods sold in Canada within a year, prompting the baking industry to take a closer look at its products and the potential effects of new government regulations on its businesses – a process that continues in 2010.
• Team USA wins the Bakery World Cup at Europain 2005 in Paris. France is second and Japan third.
• Whole Foods opens its second location in the Greater Toronto Area, a 44,000-square-foot store in
• Oakville, Ont.
• The U.S. government redesigns its venerable food pyramid to reflect changing trends in diet and nutrition, and add emphasis to the role daily exercise plays in health. The American Bakers Association reacts positively to the updated food consumption guidelines.
• Health Canada announces revisions to its Food Guide to Healthy Eating, which was first produced in 1942. The revisions are intended to better reflect Canada’s multicultural nature.
• A new consumer confectionery event, the Sweets Expo, is launched in Canada with shows scheduled for 2006 in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
• Vancouver Island baking industry members unite to form the Island Committee of the British Columbia BAC Chapter.
• The industry is saddened by the passing of Bill Halliday of Oshawa Foods. In addition to being actively involved in the Bakery Production Club of Ontario and Bakery Council of Canada, he was a longtime contributor to Bakers Journal, penning the popular “Fables & Foibles” column featuring the exploits of Jake the Baker. In 1998 he and Syd Rowell became the first recipients of the Baking Association of Canada’s honorary lifetime membership.

“We are proud to be this industry’s national magazine, but we are well aware that our success was made possible only through the loyal support from our readers, our advertisers, and the various trade associations and other industry sectors across the country.” – Ernest Naef

Fables & Foibles with Bill Halliday