PROFILE | Gunn’s Bakery
Baking a legacy Securing the legacy of the “Baker Boys”, Jon Hockman looks forward to an exciting future, filled with recipes from the past By Taryn Rittberg Selkirk Avenue, 1937, a bustling street and the epicentre of Jewish life in Winnipeg. Gunn’s Bakery was just one business on Selkirk Avenue in those days amongst butchers, fish venders, clothes shops, and the like, Bernie Gunn, 81, recalls. "We've been here for so long…and the change has been gradual over the years,” says Gunn, adding that Gunn’s is one of the last businesses from that era, and its importance is far wider spread than to just one community. Gunn’s Bakery has been a Winnipeg institution for over 80 years, and the continuity of this beloved bakery has been a topic of extreme interest and concern for the past number of years. Since the first rumblings of the potential retirement of Bernie and Fyvie Gunn (sons of founder Morris Gunn and bakery co-owners until late 2018) spread through the Winnipeg landscape, the question loomed, who would carry this mantel forward?
After being owned by the Gunn family since it started in 1937, Gunn’s Bakery is now headed up by Jon Hockman who grew up going to the bakery with his family.
When you speak to loyal Gunn’s customers, “institution” is too weak a word to describe the importance of this bakery to a multitude of communities in Winnipeg, arguably in the same vane of what the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Club has meant to our city. Now approximately half a year into this momentous endeavour, Jon Hochman has shown his metal. Hochman has been involved in the food industry since before he graduated from high school. “For me, after graduating high school I was not sure what I wanted to do,” he says. After working a variety of jobs in the food industry starting at the commencement of his high school years, Hochman transitioned to Red River College’s (RRC) Paterson GlobalFoods Institute of Culinary Arts. While going to RRC, Hochman worked at Tavern in the Park, where he learned catering and line work, and felt he “was really falling in love with what the business was.”
“FAMOUS OLD COUNTRY BAKING”
204-582-2364 247 Selkirk Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba
19
www.gunnsbakery.com info@gunnsbakery.com localfare
20
52
Hochman recalls that “all throughout these experiences, Gunn’s was there, even from my early age coming here with my grandfather or my parents coming here to pick up bagels. You get it because it is a consistent and a quality product, but because it is also an institution in Winnipeg.” It was while working at one of Hochman’s previous restaurants that he got to know the Gunn’s brothers more personally. “Fyvie would come in on occasion. He would get a corned beef and I would sit with him and talk. Long story short, Gunn’s was interested in me taking over,” says Hockman, adding that he thought it was unrealistic since it was such a large endeavour to take on. “I wanted to do it, but the idea of 65 employees, it’s special to all of the communities in Winnipeg not just one. It took pretty close to two years to get the deal finalized, to discuss through all the options, but we finally got here and in my opinion it is a very special opportunity and I am very grateful for [it].” j