It’s been a whirlwind few days for the owner of the now-shuttered Kub Bakery — a Winnipeg staple for 99 years that closed up shop this week.
Ross Einfeld told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg that his phone has been ringing non-stop, mainly from Winnipeggers expressing their sadness about the end of an era, but also from potential buyers who want to keep the brand alive.
“There may be a period where there’s not going to be any Kub bread in the marketplace … but I had several companies approach me yesterday who want to talk about buying the brand and producing it and I’m open to all these offers,” Einfeld said, adding that a former employee is among those who have expressed interest.
“A couple of other established businesses approached me, too, who are in the baking industry…. There’s certainly interest in it and I’m going to talk to them.
“I have no financial interest in it carrying on other than what they pay us for the name, but I’d really want it to stick around. I’d like to see it hit its hundredth birthday.”
Kub’s closure seemed sudden to Winnipeggers, who have made the company’s rye bread a staple at socials and on supermarket shelves, but Einfeld said it was brought on by a series of factors — including the COVID-19 pandemic, rising fuel and grain prices, construction near the Erin Street facility and an unexpected equipment failure of the bakery’s two ovens.
Although the building itself has already been sold, whoever buys the brand will also get the original Kub recipe — the secret to what made Kub so popular for so long.
“They have some ingredients in it that are a little different…. It’s a bit of a rye hybrid,” Einfeld said.
“There’s a couple of ingredients I thought were a bit different — the original recipe had malt in it, malted barley flour.
“I’m going to have to find a brand of bread to buy. I’ve been eating Kub for 40 years. If someone were to resume the Kub brand, I’d buy that. I have one loaf in my cupboard from last week, and then that’s it.”
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