It all began in Chrzanow, Poland, in a building in
which Napoleon had spent a night. We are guessing
the bakery in Poland opened between 1825 and 1841.
The last known name for the bakery in Poland was
Morris Jucker’s Bakery. When two of Morris’
children, Sigmund and Sol – the twins, were ten
years old they went to work at the Bakery because
there was a bakers strike in 1932, and there was no
one to work. Everything was truly handmade, for
there were no mixers. The dough was placed in a
trough, and everything was mixed by hand, developing
great arm muscles! The European era of our family
bakery ended when Sigmund and Sol were 19 years old,
and the family was sent to Nazi concentration camps
in 1941.
We relate our story to you as told to by Sigmund
Jucker, one of the original Three Brothers, of Three Brothers Bakery fame. On May 8th, 1945, Sigmund was released from
the concentration camp. On Liberation Day he was
fortunate to have survived with his two other
brothers and their older sister. On May 8th, 1949,
(note the date), Sigmund, his twin brother, Sol, and
younger brother Max opened Three Brothers Bakery on Holman Street in Houston, Texas. Sigmund
remembers the first day they sold $19 worth of
product. That first day taught them a very valuable
lesson.
If you don’t have parking, your business will
struggle. Hence they struggled and again, there were
no mixers, so everything was handmade, as it was in
Europe, and to give you an idea of pricing on
opening day, the coffee ring, which we still sell
today, was $.55 and a 1.5 lb rye was $.50! Yes our
prices have gone up, but not very much in 55 years
(and we now have mixers!).
In May of 1954, they moved the Bakery to Almeda St.
Yes, they had great parking and brought in $90 or
$96 on their first day. They had arrived!! The
bakery kept growing, and they then moved in May of
1960 to South Braeswood. If you know Houston,
Braeswood is a major street, but in 1960, their
Bakery was at the end of the road. They had great
parking, but no one knew they were there or that the
road went that far! Well the Three Brothers hung in
there and became a Houston institution. In 1968,
they hired their first employee. So for thirteen
years, it was just the Three Brothers!
In Poland, the people did not eat very sweet foods,
so the brothers learned to make American cakes and
pastries. But many Three Brothers baked goods still
use the original Eastern European formula, including
rye bread, challah (egg bread), danish, cheese
pockets, Kaiser rolls, Biales, traditional bagels,
onion boards, onion pockets and others. Our famous
gingerbread recipe was modified in America in 1960,
and we still use this same formula today. We are now
a full service bakery making savory eastern European
style breads and pastries, cookies, a full line of
specialty dessert cakes, as well as birthday,
special occasion, wedding and grooms cakes.
Three Brothers continues to be owned and managed by
members of the Jucker family. Sigmund’s son, Robert
– a 5th generation baker, now runs the business
along with his wife, Janice and Aunt Estelle, Sol’s
wife. So when you shop at Three Brothers Bakery,
whether it is in one of our stores or in our online
shop, we want you to feel a part of our family.
Every time we bake and you savor something from our
bakery, we give to you a part of our family.
Enjoy!
The
Jucker Family
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