Canada Bread Company, Ltd. is a Canadian producer and distributor of packaged fresh bread and bakery products. The company operates 17 bakeries and employs over 4,800 employees across Canada. Purchased by

Grupo Bimbo Grupo Bimbo, S.A.B. de C.V. (also known simply as Bimbo) is a Mexican multinational food company with a presence in over 33 countries located in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa. It has an annual sales volume of 15 billion dollars and is ...

(BIMBOA:Mexico) on May 23, 2014 for CAD$1.83 billion, Canada Bread is currently led by Alejandro Pintado, President, and operates as an independent business unit of the global baking company.

Logo

The logo is a combination of a "CB" (the company's initials), a Maple Leaf, and a wheat shoot. It was designed by Phil Slous.

History

Canada Bread was founded in June 1911 following the merger of five of Canada's leading baking companies: Bredin Bread Company, Model Bakery (founded by

George Weston George Weston (March 23, 1864 – April 6, 1924) was an American-born Canadian businessman and the founder of George Weston Limited. He worked on a Canadian bread factory in Toronto. Weston began his career at the age of 12 as a baker's apprenti ...

), Toronto Bakery, Stuarts Limited and Boyd's Bakery. The founders of these acquired bakeries, their companies no longer theirs, agreed not to compete with Canada Bread, in bread for ten years. Weston and Stuart immediately formed new baking companies making biscuits and cakes. Weston Bakeries reentered the bread market in 1921, becoming over time a major competitor to Canada Bread. Over a span of 30 years, the company quickly grew, purchasing over 20 bakeries in a dozen cities across the country and establishing new bakery locations in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

Cornwall, Ontario Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Central Canada, Ontario and Quebec and the U.S. state of New York (state), New York converge. It is Ontario's easternmost city. Although it is the seat of the United ...

Kirkland Lake, Ontario Kirkland Lake is a town and municipality in Timiskaming District, Ontario, Timiskaming District of Northeastern Ontario. The 2021 population, according to Statistics Canada, was 7,750. The community name was based on a nearby lake which in turn ...

, Chatham, Ontario and

Sudbury, Ontario Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury, is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the List of the largest cities and t ...

. In 1968, the company acquired Dempster's Bread Limited, which had become the nation's best-selling brand of bread. It followed this acquisition in 1969 by changing the name of the company to Corporate Foods Limited, but later reverted to Canada Bread Company, Limited in 1997. Quebec-based Multi-Marques, with its brand POM, was acquired in 2001. In May 2014, Canada Bread was purchased from

Maple Leaf Foods Maple Leaf Foods Inc. is a Canadian multinational consumer-packaged meats and food production company. Its head office is in Mississauga, Ontario. History Maple Leaf Foods is the result of the 1991 merger between Canada Packers and Maple ...

by Mexican-based bakery organization,

. Less than a year later, in February 2015, Canada Bread acquired the bakery division of Saputo Inc.,

Vachon Bakery Vachon Bakery is a Canadian maker of popular snack Pastry, pastries. The company was part of Saputo Inc. from 1999 to 2015. It has been owned by Canada Bread, part of Grupo Bimbo since 2015. Vachon was founded by Joseph-Arcade and Rose-Anna Va ...

(which had purchased Stuart in 1979), for CAD$120 million. In March 2015, Canada Bread also acquired two former

Sobeys Sobeys Inc. is a national supermarket chain in Canada with over 1,500 stores operating under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales of more than C$25.1 bil ...

bakeries located in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

and

Calgary, Alberta Calgary () is a major city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a Metropolitan area, metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the List of ...

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West, or Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a list of regions of Canada, Canadian region that includes the four western provinces and t ...

. In May 2016, Canada Bread announced it was closing its

North Bay, Ontario North Bay is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing. It developed as a railroad centre and its airport was an important military locatio ...

location after nearly 50 years of operation in the city; to be divested across other Canada Bread locations. In June 2023, Canada Bread pleaded guilty to four counts of price fixing with its grocery competitors to increase the price of bread products over a 16-year period and was fined $50 million. According to the

Competition Bureau The Competition Bureau () is the independent law enforcement agency in charge of regulating competition in Canada, responsible for ensuring that markets operate in a competitive manner. Headed by the Commissioner of Competition, the agency is ...

, the fine was the highest ever price-fixing fine in Canadian history.

References

External links

* {{Bimbo Bakeries of Canada Grupo Bimbo brands Grupo Bimbo subsidiaries Canadian brands Canadian subsidiaries of foreign companies Food and drink companies established in 1911 1911 establishments in Canada