Pembina Highway and Merriam Boulevard was home to the birth and start of what is Cottage Bakery and Cafe today. Founded by Frank MacDonald Brown in 1932 in a plain white cottage without a basement or furnace, Cottage Bakery became a year round operation. The bake oven and a Quebec heater provided warmth in the cold Winnipeg winter months.  Beginning during the thirties’ depression it was a real challenge that Frank met by working hard and long. The first day he baked twenty loaves and only sold ONE! Discouraged, he took the other nineteen loaves to the Fort Garry Municipal Hall to feed those on welfare.

Between 1932 & 1934, daily sales amounted to only a few dollars, with bread selling at only $0.05 cents per loaf. Doc Savage, a regular customer kept encouraging him: “Hang in there Frank”. When the Cambridge Hotel was built, it brought more people to the area and the Cottage Bakery stayed open until 11p.m. just to scratch out a mere living. Frank baked top quality bread daily that tasted as bread should, tantalizing and irresistible – which brought customers into the shop. Soon after, farmers from Starbuck, Oak Bluff, Sanford, Fannystelle, Domain and Morris, Manitoba would begin to provide him with large orders, many of them stopping in to place their order on the way to work and picking up on their way home.