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Ottawa Jewish Bulletin JULY 22, 2019 | TAMMUZ 19, 5779
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Louis Kardish reminisces about bakery life When Rideau Bakery closed the doors of its two locations, it sent shockwaves through Ottawa’s Jewish community – and well beyond. Matthew Horwood reports.
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ustomers, many of them lifelong, were shocked and saddened when Rideau Bakery, Ottawa’s legendary kosher bakery, an institution in the Jewish community owned and operated by three generations of the Kardish family for 89 years, officially closed on June 28. The bakery had two locations – at 384 Rideau Street, in the neighbourhood where Ottawa’s Jewish community was once concentrated, and at 1666 Bank Street, in the Alta Vista area. As well as
David Kardish in the doorway of Rideau Bakery at 384 Rideau Street in 1997.
at its two stores, Rideau Bakery supplied breads and other kosher baked goods to a variety of other retailers in the area – including supermarkets. Louis Kardish, who ran the Bank
COURTESY OF OTTAWA JEWISH ARCHIVES
Street store, told the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin that sales had been declining over the past few years. Louis said he had been working with his brother, David Kardish, who ran the
Rideau Street store, on plans to consolidate production to the Bank Street location. However, some weeks ago Louis was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma, which “took the wind of the sails.” It was then that Louis and David made the decision to close. “A few prominent members of the Jewish community were aware of my situation and tried to go for some continuity and transition, but unfortunately by Thursday morning of last week [June 27] it was becoming obvious it wasn’t going to be feasible,” Louis said. Brothers David and Abie Kardish opened the original Rideau Bakery in 1930 at Rideau and Nelson Streets – just steps from the current Rideau Street store – using recipes their mother Rivka once used to make bread in Ukraine. While a number of Ottawa bakeries went under during the Great Depression, Rideau Bakery survived. In 1946, a fire next door to the original Rideau Bakery location forced the family to relocate the operation to Clarence Street, and a second generation of See Rideau Bakery on page 2
Farm Boy plans to keep Rideau Bakery brand alive In a late development as the Bulletin was preparing to go to press, it was announced on July 10 that Farm Boy is planning to purchase Rideau Bakery’s assets from the Kardish family and continue to produce bread products under the Rideau Bakery brand name for the 28 Farm Boy locations in Ontario.
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“This really is a white knight scenario for us,” said Louis Kardish in the Farm Boy press release announcing the plan. “We will see the tradition of our grandmother’s old-world, kosher baking live on, supported by Farm Boy’s modern management and logistics. We are thrilled that customers will soon be
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able to find Rideau Bakery products at all Farm Boy locations.” Farm Boy will not re-open the two Rideau Bakery retail locations, but told CBC News that it will continue to bake bread at the Bank Street facility while it builds its own kosher-certified location.
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Rabbi Levy Teitlebaum, director of the Ottawa Vaad HaKashrut, cautioned that discussions with Farm Boy are not yet fully finalized. An agreement with the Ottawa Vaad HaKashrut for kosher supervision and certification under Farm Boy’s ownership was not yet in place at press time, but is expected.
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