When the Canada Bread factory closed in 2011, it threw 150 people out of work and served as a clear indicator of the fairly rapid decline of Toronto’s manufacturing base.
Located in the Junction, the factory was a remnant of the area’s industrial manufacturing heyday. But as the expanding city grew around it, heralded by trendy lofts and high-rises, Canada Bread had nowhere to grow. It finally joined many of its fellow manufacturers in decamping to the GTA’s outlying suburbs in search of lower costs and expansion opportunities.
The good news: The old Canada Bread building quickly filled up with a whole new breed of micro-manufacturer.
Built in segments and now using three separate street addresses – 88, 90 and 130 Cawthra Ave. – today it houses a commercial bakery (Sweet Flour Bake Shop), a beer-maker (Junction Craft Brewing), a distiller (Toronto Distillery Co.), a manufacturer of high-end lingerie for new moms (Mayana Genevière), and a custom printer that turns individual clients’ photos into wall art (Posterjack), among others.
Rather than focusing on large-scale industrial manufacturing or low-cost production of commodity goods, these companies rely on small teams of specialized individuals to create unique, often high-end, custom products.
Walk into Mr. Faught’s studio, for example, and you’ll find a light-filled space with a skylight, white-washed walls, plenty of computers and gee-whiz cool equipment. Clients upload their own digital photos on Posterjack’s website and then choose the size and method of displaying them – either with traditional mat boards and wood frames, or in the form of posters, or canvas, wood, metal or acrylic prints.
Faught’s team prints and custom frames each order individually, packages it and mails it directly to the customer. The company relies on the skills of a small staff of 15 to 30 (at peak periods) to fulfill its orders, and most arrive to work by bike or TTC – in fact, there is no parking on-site.
What’s more, they boast the kind of autonomy that would seem very foreign to Canada Bread’s assembly-line employees. “We don’t have a lot of micromanagement,” says Mr. Faught. “We’re all adults and the employees are smart people; they know what they’re doing.”
Ditto for Toronto Distillery Co., which calls itself “the oldest operating distillery in Toronto…since 2012.” Started by two local lawyers, it has just six employees producing seven liquors out of the old Canada Bread building.
“Everyone does everything right now,” says staffer Ben Taylor. “I distill, label, and handle retail and any other odds and ends that need to be taken care of. It makes it a lot more interesting.”
The distillery produces a beet spirit, applejack, gin and three unaged whiskies that are “essentially moonshine,” according to Mr. Taylor. And it is calculated to appeal to Torontonians who care about buying a product that is handmade, local and organic. “For the beet spirit we had to generate our own crop at a local farm,” Mr. Taylor says. “Apparently no one grows organic sugar beets in Ontario any more.”
Junction Craft Brewing, the microbrewery next door, has about 15 employees, and it too makes and sells beer and ale from the location, as well as holding tasting sessions.
Having a location in the city is important, says Junction’s president Tom Paterson, because “that’s where the people are. We get people dropping by to taste and we host events and tastings. In the summer, we do barbecues and the food trucks come out.”
Junction brews out of a Guelph plant as well, on a bigger scale, enabling it to sell its signature Conductor’s Craft Ale and Brakeman’s Session Ale through the LCBO. “But we can experiment here with small batches and niche products,” says Mr. Paterson. “Craft brewing is about brewing locally and adding more flavour to beer than the big breweries do.”
That’s not to say there’s no downside to running a manufacturing business in the heart of the city. Toronto’s micro-manufacturers face all the usual difficulties – including higher industrial property taxes, a dearth of manufacturing space and a minimum wage about 20 times the labour rate in China and 100 times that in Bangladesh.
Then there’s the problem of high rents. Posterjack had to move out of its previous space in Leslieville when the landlord doubled the rent; the building has since been converted to condos.
Although the Cawthra Ave. space “felt enormous” when Posterjack moved in four years ago, “now we need more space,” says Mr. Faught. With no greenfields to build on, “there are some negotiations ongoing to figure out if we can expand,” he says.
But he’s not planning a move to the burbs any time soon. Many of his employees are artists or photographers who take a hands-on delight in their work. “I’m not sure you’d find the same diversity and talent pool that you do in Toronto,” he says.
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