George Weston

George Weston was born to Ann and William Weston at Oswego, New York, in 1864. By the time George turned four, the family, British immigrants who first settled in Canada, had returned to Toronto after some time in the United States. On completing public school, George was sent out into the workforce.

Young George was apprenticed to C.J. Frogley, a baker with a small shop at 850 Yonge Street, north of Bloor Street, then on the outskirts of Toronto in 1876. After a number of years, Frogley abandoned the location, and another baker by the name of G.H. Bowen eventually set up shop there. After a year or so, Bowen moved the bakery to Sullivan Street, not far from today's Art Gallery of Ontario. George found employment with Bowen, who is said to have taken enough interest to see that he "learned the business the way it should be learned."

Eventually, George became a bread salesman, and in 1882, he bought a bread route from Bowen. Two years later, he bought out the bakery of his former employer. Years later, George Weston recalled those early days: "I baked 250 loaves the first day. I delivered them—drove my own waggon—called on every customer myself." It was on Sullivan Street where he developed his "Home-Made Bread". In 1889, the bakery was operated with two bread wagons. By 1894, it had undergone four expansions. He also introduced mechanical mixers in the creation process. By the 1890s, he had renamed his bakery "G. Weston’s Bread Factory".

Model Bakery

In the fall of 1897, George Weston unveiled his new "Model Bakery" bread factory at the corner of Soho and Phoebe streets in Toronto. The two-story structure had an initial production that averaged 3,200 loaves a day and a capacity of 6,500 loaves. But 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.

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. Two years later, the Model Bakery was supplying over 100 towns across Ontario with its bread, "as far east as Prescott, as far west as Windsor, and up to North Bay."

In addition to being a business figure and churchman, George Weston also became a municipal politician, winning election as alderman on Toronto city council. Weston, who in one campaign ad promoted himself as "The Businessman's Candidate", served four successive one-year terms representing Ward Four from 1910 to 1913. He has been described as a "progressive legislator" by the press. In 1914, he returned full-time to his business.