Berman's Bakery

Berman's Bakery delivery truck with company logo and date of establishment

During the pilgrimage off-season, Yehoshua went door-to-door selling his mother's bread to local residents. The business continued to prosper and in 1882 Yehoshua opened the first Jewish store outside the Old City walls, in a line of shops erected outside Jaffa Gate. He transported the bakery goods by horse and mule from the Old City to the store, using Austrian army surplus wagons. As these wagons were emblazoned with an anchor, the insignia of an Austrian army unit, people began associating the insignia with the Berman bakery. Berman's eventually incorporated this anchor into the bakery's logo.[2]

The millstones.

Yehoshua Berman also built the city's first flour mill in 1886, north of Mishkenot Sha'ananim, which operated until the 1948 Arab-Israeli war turned that area into a no man's land. Two huge millstones still stand at the former site, which is at the end of the two rows of artisan's galleries on the Street of the Craftsmen.[2]

As Jewish settlement expanded beyond the Old City walls in the late nineteenth century, the Berman family relocated to the new Mea Shearim neighborhood, where they built a bakery adjoining their house. Yehoshua encouraged his brother Eliyahu to join the business, and they officially named it J. and E. Berman Ltd.[2]

From 1917 to 1948, the British Mandate government was a regular customer of Berman's Bakery. During the 1948 war, the bakery, which lay close to the Jordanian border, was a frequent target of bombing attempts. Despite the Arab siege of Jerusalem and severe flour and gasoline rationing, Berman's Bakery continued to supply Jerusalem residents with fresh bread throughout the war.[2]

In 1965 Berman's Bakery moved to its present location on Beit Hadfus Street in the Givat Shaul industrial zone, down the street from the Angel's Bakery which had opened there in 1958.[7] A new road had to be paved to reach the new bakery.[8] The nearly 10,000-square-meter factory is fully automated, producing nearly 3,000 loaves of bread per hour and requiring no human input from production through baking through slicing and packaging.[9]

Also in 1965, Yitzchak Berman, a great-grandson of Kreshe, began working in the bakery following his stint in the IDF paratroopers unit. After working in every capacity in the bakery, he became managing director of the company. He appointed his childhood friend, Yehuda Schneidman, as operating manager. Yitzchak's daughters, Teda and Avital, and his son-in-law Gabi Mazurzski, also work in the family business.[2]

Cakes and pies on display at the Berman's Bakery retail store in Givat Shaul.

In 1999 the company opened a retail bread shop and pâtisserie at its factory location.[10] This store displays full lines of packaged and unpackaged breads, rolls, pitas, cakes and pies, plus a large refrigerated selection of pastries, and sale of hot and cold drinks. Aproned pastry makers can be seen at work through plastic windows at the back of the shop.

In 2001 Berman's Bakery purchased Lechem HaAretz Bakery, producer of specialty and health-food breads,[11] and Vadash Bakery of Ramat HaSharon, producer of breads, rolls and crumb coatings.[12] With these acquisitions, Berman's became the second-largest bakery in the country.[1][2]

In 2007 CEO and controlling shareholder Yitzchak Berman sold all his holdings to agricultural cooperative Mishkei Harei Yehuda for ₪350 million.[1]