Silverstein’s Bakery abruptly closes doors

Customers and employees got word last Thursday that Silverstein’s would be shutting down.
Silverstein’s Bakery, a longtime staple of Toronto’s culinary scene, abruptly closed last week after nearly 100 years in business.
The bakery, at McCaul and Baldwin streets, for generations supplied its goods to restaurants, grocery stores and delicatessens across the city using its distinctive orange trucks.
Customers and employees got word last Thursday that Silverstein’s would be shutting down.
“They make the best rye bread in the city. There’s no question in my mind,” said Barry Silver, owner of Yitz’s Deli. “I guarantee it took the entire deli industry by surprise.”
Silverstein’s has supplied Yitz’s its bread products since the Eglinton Avenue delicatessen opened in 1972. Silver said his grandfather used to own another deli restaurant in the 1950s, which also served Silverstein’s rye bread.
Silverstein’s opened in 1918 after original owner Kalman Silverstein arrived from Poland. By the 1930s it catered to restaurants all across the city. Kalman’s sons Dave, Murray and Sonny took over in 1953, and in recent years it had been operated by Sonny’s sons Mark, Brian and Jeff.
Mark, who started working in the bakery when he was 10, said the business had been losing money for years and is now in receivership. He said he will miss the close relationships with customers and employees, but he really regrets the bakery didn’t last another two years to see it hit the century mark.
“It stings. There’s a dozen different ways you could look at it that makes it hurt. That is one of them,” said Mark, 56. “It was a very tough decision for the family because we loved what we did in terms of baking bread for this city. There’s no reason I would want to close down a bakery started by my grandfather in 1918 unless it was economically not possible to continue, which unfortunately caught up with us.”
Eric Apostoli, a Silverstein’s baker for about 30 years, says he’s still shocked by the news.
“I’ve worked there since I was a boy. The job was a very good future to retire at, and it just abruptly shut,” he said. “There was no warning, nothing. That’s what’s so upsetting.”
Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union employed as drivers at Silverstein’s were laid off without advanced notice, said union spokesman Tim Deelstra.
Mark said the family decided a few weeks ago to close after running out of money. He said they spent three years trying to reduce expenses and increase sales.
“They were a staple in the city, watching the trucks go by,” said chef Leor Zimerman, former owner of Essen Restaurant on Dundas St. W. “When you think of the big bakery, you think of Silverstein’s.”
Zane Caplansky, owner of Caplansky’s Deli, said Silverstein’s helped him grow his business since it opened nearly nine years ago.
“Silverstein’s has been a part of my life my whole life. For me, being a regular customer of Silverstein’s was a point of pride,” he said. “It was such a great and such a consistent product. The smoked meat is the star of the show, but the bread is the context.”
Deli owners say they were left scrambling last week to find a new bread supplier on short notice and one that could equal the quality of Silverstein’s.
“In today’s market there are not a lot of choices for rye bread or for what would be used traditionally in a Jewish-style deli,” Silver.
Those whose businesses relied on the bakery say its closure leaves a void not only in Toronto’s culinary scene, but also in the city’s Jewish culture.
“Jewish baking is a dying art,” said Caplansky. “It’s a sad and shocking thing because they’ve been part of the fabric of the Jewish food community, the food community in general, for generations.”