Early Years In 1888, Harris and Judith Grodzinski,
bakers by trade, joined many members of the Jewish community in Tsarist
Lithuania in migrating westward from Vilnius, establishing themselves in
the East End of London. There they hired kosher ovens and set out baking bilkelekh,
thereby beginning a business that would grow from a trading barrow to a
full-scale bakery at 31 Fieldgate Street, over which they lived.
Domestic Expansion The bakery passed through two generations, managed successively by
Harry and Judith's son Abraham (Abie) Grodzinski, who inherited the
bakery at 18 on his father's untimely death at age 54; by Abie's widow,
Bertha Jeidel, who had immigrated from Pfungstadt, Germany, and took
over the business when Abie succumbed to the Spanish Flu Pandemic; and
by their eldest children, Harry and Ruby Grodzinski, who took up the
reigns in 1930.
Grodz prospered under Harry's and Ruby's tenure, beginning with the
opening of a second location at 91 Dunsmure Road, Stamford Hill, to
which baking was moved. A decade later, the bakery had expanded to six
locations, and even the original Fieldgate Street location's demise in a
29 December 1940 German air raid could not halt expansion. By the
mid-1960s Grodzinski was the largest kosher bakery in Europe, preparing
both fine pastries and a range of breads, and adding to their retail
business a thriving wholesale operation distributed through such British
institutions as Selfridges, Marks & Spencer and Harrods.
Overseas Expansion In 1999 the first Grodzinski bakery was opened in Toronto,
continuing the family baking tradition into fourth and fifth generations. The Edgware branch in London is managed by Tova Grodzinski,
great-great-granddaughter of the founders, and a November, 2003 75th
anniversary celebration unveiled a collection of historic photos and
papers collected by current owner Jonathan Grodzinski.
Early Years
Domestic Expansion
Grodz prospered under Harry's and Ruby's tenure, beginning with the
opening of a second location at 91 Dunsmure Road, Stamford Hill, to
which baking was moved. A decade later, the bakery had expanded to six
locations, and even the original Fieldgate Street location's demise in a
29 December 1940 German air raid could not halt expansion. By the
mid-1960s Grodzinski was the largest kosher bakery in Europe, preparing
both fine pastries and a range of breads, and adding to their retail
business a thriving wholesale operation distributed through such British
institutions as Selfridges, Marks & Spencer and Harrods.
Overseas Expansion