North Vancouver’s Local Bakery

As owners and bakers of Westlynn Bakery we have been proudly serving the North Shore community since 2014. We are passionate about baking, so our goal is to provide our customers with the best quality baked goods at affordable prices.

Each and every day, the early morning hours see talented Westlynn Bakery staff preparing and baking the day’s production. The result is a wide selection of freshly baked pastries, cookies, cakes, pies, sausage rolls and all types of breads – including the popular sourdough artisan bread and much more.

We have 28 wonderful staff so it’s more than a bakery, it is a little industry. Our customers come from all over the Lower Mainland. Some folk even call through their orders when they plan to come back for a visit and others who live nearby call in their orders so they don’t miss out. We are really excited about my plans to bring even more products to the customer.

Raised in a foodie family, I decided to join the bakery world by working in the corporate side of the industry for many years. The early mornings are challenging, but when you really enjoy what you do, it blends in with your lifestyle.

When my wife Lisa and I came to Vancouver, we planned to spend a year travelling across Canada. Twelve years later, we had reached the point where we needed to either head home to Australia for our eldest son to start school or to stay in Vancouver where they already enjoyed their active lifestyle.

Since I had always dreamt that one day I would run my own business creating good quality artisan breads, when the long-standing Westlynn Bakery came up for sale in 2014, I seized the opportunity to become the community’s local bakery owner.

We took over from Peter Vanderhoek who had run Westlynn Bakery for 34 years after taking it over from his father. I have been very fortunate that Peter has been and continues to be my mentor, guiding my transition into owning this wonderful, well-established bakery.

Westlynn had – and still has – great clientele, good products and a loyal staff. For me, it was the perfect playground, something I couldn’t pass up.

My kids love the gingerbread men, bagels (doughnut bread according to our daughter, Jaime) and the sourdough baguettes. They honestly enjoy being in the bakery, helping as much as they can. To see them with such enthusiasm brings us a great deal of joy.

At the end of the day, any Westlynn Bakery bread or baked goods that haven’t been sold go on the half-price rack for the following day, or they are donated to the Open Door, a charity for single mothers.

Peter has made many donations over the years and I plan to continue his work. Since I have this great opportunity to bake for the community, I have introduced an incentive program for our customers and am also looking forward to becoming more involved with local schools, work groups and sporting clubs.