On May 8, 2022, the date will mark the 73rd anniversary of Three Brothers Bakery in Houston, Texas. It is also more than 75 years since the founders and three brothers, Sigmund, Sol and Max, and older sister Janie, were liberated from Nazi concentration camps. You can read the whole history here.
Around the year 2000, Bobby, Sigmund’s eldest and 5th generation baker, took over the bakery and in 2005, his wife, Janice, joined him. Since then, they have created a second generation of history in America, noted by store openings, disasters, and accolades.
The bakery has operated continuously except for:
- a three-day closure after flooding during Tropical Storm Allison,
- a nine-month closure after Hurricane Ike rendered the building and production area inoperable,
- another three-day closure after the 2015 Memorial Day floods, and
- A 17-day closure after the devastating flooding from Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
The bakery is proud to say they paid employees the entire time they were closed.
Two things happened to put Three Brothers Bakery on the food map, around the time the Food Network gained popularity and cake became recognized as an art form. The first was the bakery’s pecan pie being named by Country Living Magazine as “the best mail order pecan pie America has to offer.” The second was a challenge by Greg Morago from The Houston Chronicle to create a 3 layer piecake, which Three Brothers named the Pumpecapple Piecake.
“We are rooted in the legacy of survival, and now more than ever all small businesses are being tested,” Janice Jucker says.
In 2022, the bakery’s 4606 Washington Avenue location turned 8 years old, and they celebrated February 25 with cake (of course) and 8 cookies for $8 at this location only.
“As we look back 8 years ago this neighborhood was very different,” Bobby Jucker says. “Now we love how we see young children every day and so many families. It turned out to be a great location for us.”
Other new promotions include the Ready for Rodeo with Rodeo themed treats throughout rodeo season. There are approximately 600 sanctioned rodeos annually with over 30 million fans in the U.S. competition. Today, an estimated 2.5 million people enjoy the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday in March featured the bakery’s Louisiana style King Cakes and other Mardi Gras themed treats.
“About 8-10 years ago we went on a bakery trip to Louisiana during Mardi Gras season and learned we were making our king cakes all wrong,” the owners explain. “We brought home about 9 different king cakes from 9 different bakeries; laid them out on a table, and we had a tasting. We took the best of all of them and formulated what we use today. So many folks tell us now that they don’t have to get their king cakes shipped in from Louisiana because ours are just as good.”
