Uprising Breads Bakery

Uprising Breads Bakery opened up its doors in the late 1970s with a promise of making all-natural, grain-filled breads at a time when consumers hadn’t yet recognized the importance of having whole grains in their everyday diet. These days, health-savvy East Vancouverites would argue the bakery’s addition to the neighbourhood is the best thing that’s happened since, well, sliced bread.

“What distinguishes our bread in the marketplace is that its honey-sweetened,” explains owner and general manager Don McGinn. “We make a nice variety of good wholegrain breads — from rye and wheat mixes to sourdoughs to seeded breads, a white bread called Heather’s Buttermilk and Honey and morning loaves like raisin and flax.” Most of the recipes are 35 years old, but giving his bakers creative freedom is important to Don.

“I’ve got a lot of talented people working here and we do develop new products all the time," he says. "I have a program called ‘baker’s surprise’ just to allow my guys in the back to show me what they can do and come up with something new every month. If it’s really popular, we’ll keep it. It’s important to let these professionals do their thing.”

You can buy their breads from other grocers such as Whole Foods or Donald’s Market, but a rotating variety of specialty breads, like the pumpkin, cinnamon swirl or three-cheese, are only available at his bakery store.