In a first for Canada, Puratos is bringing professional-level baking education to high school students with the opening of a dedicated bakery school at Mississauga, Ont.'s Father Michael Goetz Secondary School.

This collaboration stands as the latest venture of the company’s Bakery School Foundation. Launched in 2014 to empower disadvantaged youth through hands-on vocational training, Puratos — known for offering a full range of ingredients and services for the bakery, patisserie and chocolate sectors in over 100 countries — now operates 13 schools across 12 countries in places like India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Vietnam, the United States, and now, Canada. 

Twenty-five students from Father Michael Goetz will make up the inaugural school’s first cohort of the four-semester program that runs from Grade 10 through Grade 12, with their hands-on coursework counting toward high school credits toward a Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) in baking and hospitality. 

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Julie Istead, Puratos Canada’s vice president of research and development, said the company had long wished to bring a bakery school to Canada. With Father Michael Goetz in close proximity of its Mississauga headquarters, the serendipitous collaboration now becomes a reality. 

“ One thing that's really lacking in the baking industry through the education systems that have removed some of these types of programs is that it’s become difficult to find skilled labourers. This program gives students a path where they can graduate from a high school program and be job-ready — whether that’s a small bakery, in manufacturing or taking this experience and going to post-secondary education,” she told The Catholic Register. 

The roughly 200 hours of dedicated training will be taught by a teacher from the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board with a  baking background, with support from Puratos’ technical team of advisors. With so much technical work to cover, Istead says the students begin at the very basics. 

“Students start off with training in general baker safety, but will quickly move on to the basics of bread making. Each semester will take them through different aspects — mixing dough, learning about proofing and baking breads. But the broad curriculum also allows them to work towards making cakes, icing, doughnuts and even working with chocolate,” she said. 

In addition to its intentional design in addressing skilled labour shortages in the baking and food manufacturing sectors and youth employment gaps in underserved communities, the bakery school acts as an inclusive education pathway for neurodivergent students, expected to make up approximately 50 per cent of the program’s participants.

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“ We wanted to give students who learn differently a potential idea for a career that gives them a chance to be hands-on and learn in an effective way. In the end, this is something that is open to every student who is interested,” Istead said.  

Beyond the direct experience, Puratos Canada hopes that additional opportunities, such as guest speaker events and field trips to nearby bakeries or manufacturing facilities, will be able to tangibly show Father Michael Goetz’s students the career variety unique to the baking and food industry. 

The program also offers an optional co-op placement in the final semester, with Puratos helping those interested find opportunities in the field.  

Having launched officially as part of a grand opening event on Feb. 25, the team has already enjoyed the enthusiasm and willingness of its inaugural cohort. The first bakery class took place at the end of January, with “multiple key customers” already expressing their support for the program and hoping to leverage the bakery school to help fill their labour pipelines in the future.

Future job prospects will no doubt be one of the markers of success for the program, along with graduation rates, stable enrollment of 25 students per year and delivering on its vision of providing students with meaningful careers while addressing the skilled labour shortage. 

Puratos will continue to look at ways to improve its global scale, with a goal of operating 20 bakery schools by 2030 that will welcome 1,000 students annually across the globe.

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For now, all eyes are on the student bakers at Father Michael Goetz as they work to mix, proof, shape and bake their way towards a career in one of Canada’s more underserved, high-demand fields.  

“We go where the need is, and so we are not sure what countries around the docket for this or next year, but we have at least a few years to make the program at Father Michael a success first,” Istead said.