The Evolution of the Canadian Baking Industry

The Canadian baking industry has transformed over the past couple centuries into what it is today – a robust economic sector of the Canadian economy. Far from today’s Canada bakery supply of bread, cakes and pastries, baking in early Canada was conducted inside the home. Since then, more and more bakeries have popped up to meet the demands of Canada’s growing society. So much so, that we’ve seen a fundamental shift in where baking products are being produced.

Today we’ll briefly delve into the ways in which the Canadian baking industry has transformed over the past century.

1900s Home-Baked Bread

In the early days of what would formally become Canada – a grand majority of households produced baked bread in the comfort of their homes. Only 8% of households at the time would purchase bread. There was not yet a large demand to supply village needs when it would come to baked goods. As such, the grocery stores we have today, were not prevalent during this time.

Meeting the Needs of Growing Society

As the Canadian population would grow, so to would their needs. To meet this new demand, small bakeries began to appear to supply baked goods. A few of these bakeries would eventually transform into what would be today’s major commercial bakeries, and by the 60s – 95% of households purchased bread and the majority of their Canada bakery supply product needs sourced from commercial bakeries.

With more and more Canadians relying on commercial bakeries to meet their needs, the Canadian government set out regulations that the industry must adhere to, to ensure customer safety and transparency.

Industrial-Scale Bakery Operations

Over the past few years, technology has driven many of the advances in contemporary commercial bakery enterprises at all levels of business. From production, logistics, and distribution – modern wholesale bakeries can supply product to markets hundreds of kilometers away from its main production facility.  Industry interests are now represented nationally by the Baking of Association of Canada. They represent all aspects of the Canada bakery supply sector, and host an annual trade show and conference of over 4,500 industry professionals.