BY: Nathasha WasdanI
Nestled within the Black Creek Community, St Pio’s bakery is an Iranian-owned yet authentically Italian baked, continued in the legacy of its predecessor St Phillips is a signature establishment located at the Jane St and Wilson intersection on 2133 Jane St, North York, ON M3M 1A2. The Bakery has been around for 20 years serving the community with its high quality freshly baked breads and paninis.
The establishment is a small lively bakery bustling with patrons of all ages. Being a successor of the previous community bakery (St.Phillips) that had been around for over 40 years itself. The
sole purpose of founding a bakery was to get in the line of business that would help serve the community with its essential needs of good and affordable bread and pastries.
Owner and founder, Sirous Porchio, a skilled baker who migrated from Iran to Toronto in the early 2000s setup St Pio’s bakery to provide for his family members. Since the Canadian job market alternative was a highly non-promising and saturated prospect at the time and as it continues to be. The Porchio family were not new to this business, they previously owned bakeries back in Tehran, Iran. Thus naturally providing Mr.Porchio the much needed exposure to the bakery industry allowing him to fearlessly pursue entrepreneurship and start his very own bakery in a completely different country.
Although the transformation did not go without its set of backlashes from the members of the community, conflicting over the ownership of an authentically Italian bakery being run by an Iranian. The quality of the baked and confessionary products sold at the St.Pio’s bakery spoke louder than words. Today St Pio's bakery is popular for its product quality and cost effectiveness. Porchio's search for product authenticity was backed by the simplicity of the recipes he used. Ms. Bita Porchio, the daughter of Sirous Porchio and managing head at St Pio's remarked "The authenticity of how you do anything is how you do everything. Because as far as I know every time my dad has made something, whether it's at home or it's here, he puts the same thing. Same attention, same effort into it. It's not something that he changes. So being authentic is in him, because that's just easy for him.”
Ms. Porchio, when asked what the best part of owning St. Pio’s bakery was?, replied “Being able to serve some stuff [items] at a lower price point, like birthday cakes. It kind of helps people save money and it makes the kids happy. So when you kind of get that together it's a happy kid with happy parents because they didn't have to spend the fortune on a cake…That's kind of nice".
Admittedly, St Pio’s is a cost effective bakery in the Black Creek Community, easing customers amidst inflationary prices for fresh bread. Their speciality and the most sold item is the Panini bread rolls that hit the markets with its taste and pocket friendliness. In the words of Ms Porchio, “That's our staple product. It's the most popular. It's the one we make throughout the whole day. We sell most of it.” Something a potential customer should consider checking out! Certainly worth a visit