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Jun Sakiyama started working at Boko Bakery, his family’s long-standing business on Elgin Street, when he was 10 years old.
“I was probably cracking eggs and rolling out dough in the back. But nothing really intense and committed,” Sakiyama said.
He is 36 now, the same age as the bakery, and in the last few years his workload has grown more intense, and even celebrated. Sakiyama has excelled at creating the wealth of decorated cookies that for many in downtown Ottawa are synonymous with the business.
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But the bakery, which opened in 1982, is closing this weekend, to the disappointment of loyal customers hankering for breads, pastries, baked savoury items and, of course, cookies.
Sakiyama, his mother, brother and his wife are moving on. “Just time for ourselves is the main concern for the four of us,” he said. In particular, Sakiyama’s mother wants to spend more time with her ailing father in Okinawa, Japan, he adds.
“Before the last five years, I don’t think our family was this close,” Sakiyama said. “But when we decided to become part of the business with my mom, it brought the family a lot closer. That’s where we are right now, after four or five years of trying hard with the business.”
The bakery was inspired to branch out into making decorated cookies roughly a decade ago. The suggestion came from Sakiyama’s grandfather, visiting from Japan. “He and my mother began this decorated cookie kind of experiment on holidays,” Sakiyama said.
Eventually the decorated cookies, produced daily and not just for special occasions, became his specialty. “I have some kind of artistic background. I love to doodle and draw,” he said.
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His work is documented on the bakery’s Instagram page, which includes hundreds of photos of cookies depicting everything from superheroes to snowflakes to cartoon characters to baby clothes to cannabis to soccer balls and much more.
Sakiyama said the store’s closure will allow him “to just take a little break and have a soft reset, and re-evaluate what to do for the next chapter of my life.” It might have to do with cookies, or it might not, he said.
This Sunday is Boko’s last day. Sakiyama said the store will be giving away desserts and other items, and that any sales will be turned over to a nearby community centre.
Jun Sakiyama’s top 5 cookies
1) Canada Day cookies: “Canada Day 2018 was one of the most busy, if not the busiest, days of the year for us and maple leaf cookies with tag lines were always a huge hit,” said Sakiyama.
2) La Machine-themed cookies: “We did them for the short amount of time they were in town in 2017,” said Sakiyama.
3) Dog cookies: “The Golden Triangle loves its dogs. On Instagram, I posted a couple of pictures of dogs, just random dogs, and I just asked the people following us what dogs they had or what dog cookies they wanted to see. I just got a long list of random dogs, and I started making them when I had time. Our customers enjoyed it,” Sakiyama said.
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4) Valentine’s Day Cookie Gram: “This year we figured combining something like a card and cookie for Valentine’s Day to celebrate with some punny humour would be well-received. These were an instant hit,” said Sakiyama.
5) Pokemon cookies: “Growing up, I played my fair share of Pokemon and making them into cookies was nostalgic,” Sakiyama said.
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