Topper Bakery won’t be offering Christmas goods, but it’s coming back
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- Valeen DeRyke, right, and son Lance DeRyke walk inside the remains of Topper Bakery in Ogden on Monday, Nov. 29, 2021. The locale sustained heavy damage in a fire last August, but they plan to rebuild at the location, reopening, they hope, in late 2022.
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- Valeen DeRyke, left, and son Lance DeRyke stand inside the remains of Topper Bakery in Ogden on Monday, Nov. 29, 2021. The locale sustained heavy damage in a fire last August, but they plan to rebuild at the location, reopening, they hope, in late 2022.
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- Valeen DeRyke, left, and son Lance DeRyke stand inside the remains of Topper Bakery in Ogden on Monday, Nov. 29, 2021. The locale sustained heavy damage in a fire last August, but they plan to rebuild at the location, reopening, they hope, in late 2022.
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- Valeen DeRyke, left, and son Lance DeRyke stand inside the remains of Topper Bakery in Ogden on Monday, Nov. 29, 2021. The locale sustained heavy damage in a fire last August, but they plan to rebuild at the location, reopening, they hope, in late 2022.
OGDEN — First the bad news — Topper Bakery, forced to temporarily halt operations last August after a devastating fire, won’t be offering up speculaas and the other Christmastime sweets it’s famous for.
“I ruined a lot of people’s Christmases,” said Valeen DeRyke, who owns and operates the Monroe Boulevard locale with her son, Lance DeRyke. “But they understand.”
Now the good news — the DeRykes hope to rebuild the bakery and be back in operation at the 2516 Monroe Blvd. location by the latter part of 2022. What’s more, Topper has been operating out of a different location since October, though it’s only serving certain commercial customers.
“Next year, that’s what I’ve been telling everybody,” Valeen DeRyke said. That is, she hopes the bakery is up and running with a full range of products by October or November next year, in time to provide the Dutch holiday treats that so many seek.
An Aug. 30 fire destroyed the inside of the Topper location, where the Ogden institution has operated for more than 80 years, forcing the bakery to close. Fire officials suspect a crack in the cooling vent of the Topper oven allowed heat to escape and heat up the wooden framing in the building, causing the fire, DeRyke said.
Aside from speculaas and pfeffernusse cookies and botterletter, a Dutch pastry, the locale is known for its donuts and the hamburger buns used at the Burger Bar in Roy, among other things. Harry M. DeRyke, whose roots were in The Netherlands, opened the locale in 1939.
Valeen DeRyke said Topper partially resumed production in October, making the buns for Burger Bar and pita bread for a Greek restaurant, another commercial client. The Aspen Mills Bread Co. at 3457 Wall Ave. in Ogden is letting Topper operate there, but only on Sundays, so production is limited.
Lance DeRyke is anxious to get back to normal, though, and little by little, they’re getting there. “I’d like to get going to full steam again,” he said.
The inside of the location has been gutted to clear out the fire damage. But the exterior shell of the building remains and the DeRykes have come up with plans, currently under review by city officials, to rebuild.
Notably, the DeRykes have also found an oven in Canada to replace the original inside Topper that was destroyed. “That’s the thing we were so sad to lose,” Valeen DeRyke said.
The original oven had stone shelves, which hold heat better than wire racks and bake bread more evenly, she said. The DeRykes hope the Canadian oven helps them replicate the quality of the products they offer.
Though the inside will be revamped, remnants of the pre-fire locale will remain. The floor in the front the locale remains, made of a mishmash of ceramic pieces with “Topper” spelled out in the middle. Likewise, the Topper Bakery signage and top hat that fronted the building, though temporarily taken down, will eventually be put back up.
Insurance should cover the cost of rebuilding, but donations are being tapped to help replace the bakery equipment, Valeen DeRyke said.