George Weston - Model Bakery

Model Bakery

In the Fall of 1897, George Weston unveiled his new state-of-the-art "Model Bakery" bread factory at the corner of Soho and Phoebe streets in Toronto. The two-storey structure, with the latest in baking technology, had an initial production that averaged 3,200 loaves a day, and a capacity of 6,500 loaves. The press quickly hailed the operation for its efficiency and cleanliness, as well as gave credit to its proprietor:

Perserverence and pluck combined with brains have brought many a man out of the rut. Such a man is Mr. George Weston, who a few years ago, with a capital of two hundreds dollars, began a small baking business, and who to-day has the largest bakery in Canada, and does the largest bread business in the city. His quarters, being too small for his rapidly growing business, he decided to erect the largest, and at the same time the model, bakery in Canada. He spared no money, and let it be said to his credit, that the building was designed and built by Canadians, and is composed of and equipped with Canadian material and machinery. The fault of many bakers was that their surroundings were not clean enough, and Mr. Weston decided that the fame of his genuine home-made bread should not suffer through any lack of cleanliness. Though bakery, house and stables are under one roof, the building is so constructed that one does not affect the others.

But no sooner had the Model Bakery gone into production than George Weston began hearing reports from his salesmen that the competition was undercutting his prices, contrary to a local Bakers’ Association agreement that set a standard price for bread of 12 cents a loaf. As Weston parted company with his fellow bakers he lowered his prices for both his route and wholesale customers, as the competition attempted to fill the store shelves of Toronto with their bread:

Bakers have fallen out with one another since Mr. Geo Weston has left their ASSOCIATION and the outcome will be the bakers' loss and the citizens' gain. Mr. Geo. Weston has lowered his bread to 10 cents retail, CASH, and he promises to continue such prices all through the winter, no matter what the other BAKERS do. His aim is to satisfy the public that his drop in price is genuine, and not a BLUFF on the public which is being introduced by many of the leading bakers in the city, charging their private customers 11 and 12 cents and selling to the stores at 6 cents per loaf. Mr. Weston does not intend to be governed by any ring or association in the future, but will attend strictly to his own business. which has made Mr. G. WESTON'S name a household word with the citizens of Toronto for his SUPERIOR REAL HOME MADE BREAD. He promises to treat all classes alike, one quality for the rich, the same for the poor. No half dozen prices with Mr. Geo. Weston. His wholesale price will be from day to day 9 cents to stores, 10 cents to privates, CASH.

In the end, the price war did not hurt business. By 1899, in a single month, the Model Bakery delivered 231,650 three pound loafs, more than double the factory's original output, with bread now shipped to 38 cities and towns outside of Toronto.