The closure of Winnipeg’s iconic Kub Bakery in November after almost a century in business came as a surprise to Winnipeggers, but the company’s iconic rye bread is making a comeback after a few months away from local shelves.
At a press conference at the Erin Street bakery Wednesday morning, the 99-year-old business’ former owners announced Kub’s purchase by a pair of well-known Winnipeggers — Chip and Pepper Foster, of the eponymous clothing brand.
The duo, now based in California, are best-known for their ubiquitous 1980s and ’90s tie-dye fashion line, as well as a Saturday morning cartoon, as well as other denim and sportswear-based fashion initiatives in the United States and Canada.
The brothers said they were first made aware of the pending closure of the bakery when a friend sent them an interview then-owner Ross Einfeld did on local news.
They said Kub’s recipes will be given to small, independent bakers in the area to produce the bread.
“Bread from Manitoba is on another level,” Chip Foster said.
“The wheat here is one of the best things in the entire world to me and mixed with that secret trademark of love that’s the trademark of friendly Manitoba, they are truly little slices of heaven.”
In mid-November, Einfeld told 680 CJOB that after the bakery’s closure, his phone had been ringing non-stop, mainly from Winnipeggers expressing their sadness about the end of an era, but also from potential buyers who wanted to keep the brand alive.
Einfeld said Kub’s closure 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.
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