Guy Quenneville
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, January 30, 2008

YELLOWKNIFE - Like Walt Disney in his famed movie vault, Bud Weaver stood inside his outdoor freezer at the back of Weaver and Devore in Old Town last week, reaching to the top of a storage shelf for a loaf of rye bread.

And like certain Disney titles, the bread's shelf life is about to come to an end.

Bud Weaver of Weaver and Devore reaches for one of the last loaves of rye bread in his freezer. After 16 years of supplying the bread to Weaver and Devore, Yellowknife baker Xavier Fabien has been told by his employer, Luric Enterprises, that he no longer has time to bake the bread - which Weaver says is a sad loss to his store. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

For 16 years, a longtime Yellowknife baker working for food provider Luric Enterprises has supplied Weaver and Devore with this special blend of rye bread.

Before Christmas, Weaver was contacted by Luric Enterprises, a supplier of food to First Air and Canadian North, and told that Luric's baker will no longer be able to provide him with the bread, citing a heavy airline workload as the cause.

"All we have left is what's in our freezer," said Weaver of the dozen or so leftover loaves. "And when that's gone, it's gone forever."

The news has hit some of his customers hard, if recent bread sales are any indication.

"I had about 70 loaves just before Christmas," said Weaver. "But now that people have heard the news, some of them have been buying six or eight loaves at a time."

Over the years, the rye bread proved popular with many townspeople, including a dozen or so regular customers.

Weaver estimated his store went through 50 loaves a week.

While he is unhappy with Luric's decision to discontinue the supply of rye bread to his store, Weaver said he knows there's nothing he can do about it.

"I was just lucky enough that he made it for us for all these years," he said.

The baker behind the rye bread is Xavier Fabien, who was born in the West Indies but arrived in Canada in the 1960s. He has worked as a baker ever since, at one point running his own Yellowknife bakery, Golden Harvest, until it closed approximately 13 years ago. He now works for Luric Enterprises.

Fabien said he understands the decision made by Luric's management to stop supplying Weaver with rye bread.

"We cater for the airlines. It's getting in the way and the airline is more important. I was putting in way too much time," he said, adding that while he enjoyed making the bread because people liked it, he didn't think he would miss the tradition.

Fabien is willing to teach other bakers how to make the bread - for the right price.

"I'm not going to give it to (just) anybody," he said of the recipe. "If they pay me good, I will do it."