Future Bakery
106 North Queen Street, ON M8Z 2E2 Toronto, ON, Canada

Friends, It’s been an exhausting 2 weeks with the Latin and Orthodox rites’ Easters. Our team of bakers, and all of our staff have worked around the clock producing thousands (literally) of Paskas so that notwithstanding our current pandemic circumstances no one celebrating Easter traditionally in our local communities was without a Paska.... On behalf of Future Bakery we wish all of you a Happy and Healthy Easter. A personal admission, since Feb.18 I have only taken one day of rest. In February I was sourcing equipment for M-C Dairy in Germany and France. I cut my trip short and flew back on Feb.16 due to a feeling of unease and to prepare. The evening of Feb.15, before my flight back to Canada, I went to visit Notre Dame Cathedral which I last visited in 1980. I will visit the Cathedral again one day with my children when She has been rebuilt. XPUCTOC BOCKPEC

For those customers calling worried that we’ll run out of Paskas; Do not despair: the Paskas keep rolling into our ovens, along with poppyseed rolls, honey cakes, pampushky, keksy, khrusty, and at M-C Dairy we’ve made the Easter Cheese.

Good Morning Paska eaters, The GREAT WALL OF PASKA awaits: Factory Outlet: 106 North Queen St., Etobicoke ... St. Lawrence Market: 95 Front St. E.. St Lawrence Market

We’re starting on the Good Friday batch of Paskas. See you in the morning (thank goodness for coffee) or order online from the comfort of your bed at www.futurebakery.com .

The march of the Paskas. They ‘re waiting for you. :-) Order online at www.futurebakery.com or visit our factory outlet store at 106 North Queen St. In Etobicoke.

Happy Easter, Finally a day of rest! I’d like to thank all of our bakers, dairy workers, our wholesale delivery drivers, home delivery drivers, office staff, and especially our retail staff at our factory outlet store and at our St.Lawrence Market kiosk. You are the frontline of an essential service; continuing to feed our local communities under social isolation. We are providing the staples; fresh dairy and our daily bread. ... I know that many of our employees have absolutely understandable fears for their families safety as they head to work on empty streets and buses on a daily basis. Thank-you for not succumbing to those fears. For my part I will continue to do everything I can to keep you safe as we continue to feed a city in virtual lockdown. In 2020 the Easter message is particularly powerful. Let us believe! Borys. blogTO Torontolife.com

Dear Customers, It’s time to call it a day; a day that started at 6:30 with Lewko our Milkman/Breadman delivering fresh Paskas and milk (not to mention rye bread, kefir, bagels, yogurt...) to those lucky Etobians who live south of Dixon. For online ordering and home delivery visit our website www.futurebakery.com .

Easter is a time of baking: Paskas, syrnyks, poppyseed rolls, honey cakes; however there is an item that is fried. Who can guess what’s in the photo? Be Well, Borys.

The day is almost done and the bread racks are empty. Do not despair; it appears that when the Premier announced grocery stores were to be closed tomorrow for Good Friday he meant the big chains. We will be open tomorrow on Good Friday from 8:00am-9:00am for seniors, and from 9:00am-7:00pm for the rest of you Paska lovers.... (I have to admit to trepidation after the initial announcement as to what would happen if the Friday shoppers all came on Saturday). Phew mayhem averted. We’ve also extended our online ordering and home delivery for this week into Saturday, order online at www.futurebakery.com . Be Well, Borys.

Dear Customers, The first evening batch of Easter Paskas are starting to come out. We’re baking all night to make sure we have enough for you for the morning. As many of you have heard Premier Ford announced today that all food stores are to close this Friday. For those who had planned to do their Easter shopping on Good Friday, don’t despair order online at www.futurebakery.com and we’ll deliver to your home this Friday and Saturday.... Back to the Paskas, Be Well, Borys.

Dear Customers, A week has gone by and after much frustration we finally got our online ordering system for home deliveries up and running late Friday; go to www.futurebakery.com and click on the future bakery truck icon. I refrained from posting this news a couple of days so as to make sure there were no glitches. We’re now ready to go; just in time for Easter and our Paska baking megathon.... You can now get home delivery of fresh baked breads (as well as pastries), and fresh milk delivered from Ontario farms every day of the week (along with all of our other fresh fermented dairy products). In addition to the regular packaging, we deliver your orders in sealed tamper proof bags. With online ordering and home delivery one eliminates product handling by shippers, receivers, shelf stockers, and touching by other customers. Please note that we only deliver in Etobicoke south of Eglinton, and in Mississauga east of Cawthra and south of Eglinton. Friends, as a small boy at our family bakery at Queen and Tecumseth I remember my grandmother and father standing side by side with our bakers; p. Vasyl Radj, p. Melnyk, p. Duch, p. Milaniak, Stasio, Joseph and Nonda hand moulding what seemed like millions of Paskas. The bakery was filled with the sweet smells of Paska dough and fresh baked Paskas. The whole Queen St. neighbourhood could smell the Paskas baking and people would line up to get their fresh baked Paskas and try not to eat them before they got home. Baking is an integral part of our Easter traditions. This Easter will be difficult and very different from Easters past. Inside our bakery we won’t be standing shoulder to shoulder while moulding, we won’t be talking away and joking about aching muscles while wearing masks. But we will be baking rows upon rows of Paskas; we’re an essential service and committed to making sure that notwithstanding this pandemic there will be a Paska on every table. Happy Easter and Be Well, Borys.

Tomorrow our first order will not surprisingly be to 95 La Rose Ave.. We’ve cut off orders for tomorrow, however Wednesday deliveries are available. Please place orders by phone (416)231-1491 as the web ordering system still has a couple of glitches. In the meantime a big thank-you to Long Island for Men and Luda and Tony, neighbours and longtime family friends. Their store has been shut down by this pandemic and instead of wringing their hands they’ve been sowing masks for o...ur local hospitals from the material they’d use for men’s shirts. Small business is the backbone of our economy and Luda and Tony exemplify the values upon which we’ve built this great country. Upon hearing that our bakers and dairy workers were running out of disposable masks, Luda delivered 20 masks to keep our employees safe. After we’re done with social distancing, big hugs Luda. Long Island For Men

Dear Customers, Our programmer has been working hard last week and this weekend to get our home delivery page up and running, however it looks like Tuesday will be our launch day. In the meantime we’ll be taking orders for home delivery starting Monday by phone. We’ve had a number of requests from far and wide for deliveries however for now we will stick to our local area: Etobicoke south of Eglinton and Mississauga east of Dixie and south of Eglinton. ... For those out of area we are setting up for order pickup for customers with 12 parking spots at the east end of our lot designated as the area for pickups. These orders need to be placed a day in advance and will be delivered to your vehicle. More on this in the next few days. On a personal note, during these past weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about my grandparents Feliks and Anna. My grandfather was a pacifist in a time when the world seemed mad with chauvinism. Throughout WW2 my grandparents continued against all odds and at times under great risk to bake our daily bread. Over the coming days, time permitting, I’ll share some of our family history from the prewar period, the war, and then life as DP’s in the land that they would build their future and Future Bakery. In the meantime I’m sharing photos of my grandfather from the 1930’s and his Master Baker’s Diploma from 1905/6. Stay safe and be well, Borys.

For those calling due to local egg shortages; we have a large supply in our factory outlet store. Our bakery receives skids of eggs each week which we use to make several hundred kolach (challah) daily. Besides the brown eggs that we use, we have preordered several skids of white eggs for Easter for pysanky and krashanky as we do every year. Stay safe and be well, Borys.