In 1951, as two young penniless immigrants from Holland, Marten and Sally Posthumus ventured over the ocean leaving behind their family and friends to start their new life in Canada. After working at several jobs for the first few years, Marten and Sally saved up some money and borrowed some more from the potato farmer who gave them their first job here and was finally able to return to his European profession as a baker in his own bakeshop, a little hole-in-the-wall on Armstrong Avenue in the North end of Winnipeg.

Things were very different than what he was used to in his days in Holland. He had to learn many new products for the Canadian palate and soon the European community learned about him and supported his European delicacies. In Europe the customers all came to the bakery or they were close enough that the goodies were usually delivered by bicycle. In Canada that wasn't going to cut it because of the vast distances that he had to deal with, so that's when he bought himself and old used woody which he started making deliveries (see image in top left corner). He soon outgrew his location in the north end and started scouting for a new location.

In 1959 he sold his little bakery on McGregor and moved to his new location on Munroe Avenue, a 2500 square foot bakery attached on an old house. In a few years the old house was torn down and a new one was put up in its place and business carried on from there for the next 27 years. Because of the extra square footage, he was able to start bringing in some other items like imports from his homeland and before you knew it the business blossomed. For many years he carried on the home delivery service, but eventually the bakery became too busy and more people owned cars so he was able to quit the delivery route and concentrate on his bakery.

By 1980 it was becoming apparent that he was outgrowing his current location again and it was decided to look for a new location. The neighborhood changed and it was apparent that for his current location the parking was far too restricted, so it was decided to purchase the store on Edison Avenue where they currently are now. It is 5000 square feet and has plenty of parking.
The new location now carries a large line of imported foods, giftware, delicacies, and bakery products. It also has a unique European style restaurant where you can try our famous Krokets and Bitterballen and enjoy our daily homemade soups, sandwiches and pastries.

The Bake Oven is now a tourist attraction and has many visitors from all over because of its unique European product lines and specialty-baked goods.