An Ottawa family’s summer side hustle is serving up homemade treats, making money, and growing a sense of community. Almost every day, the six Soroka siblings, ranging in age from seven to 18, set up their bake sale at the end of their driveway on Kerr Avenue, across from the Jewish Community Centre. But getting the stand ready starts hours before the first customers arrive. “I wake up at like 6:45 because I make the bread dough, which needs to rise for an hour before we even roll it out,” said 17-year-old Miriam Soroka. As the rest of the family wakes up, the kitchen gets busier. “Slowly, slowly, like from seven to eight, everyone wakes up and as soon as we wake up, we start helping,” said her sister, Ruchie Soroka. The menu includes cookies, brownies, muffins, cake, popcorn and one of the stand’s biggest draws, fresh challah rolls. Most items sell for $2, while the rolls go for $3. On a good day, the siblings say the stand can bring in around $200. They estimate about 35 to 40 customers can stop by in a day, including a growing number of regulars. “I work across the street, so every day I drive into work, and when they’re out here, I’m pulling over to get some food,” said regular customer Lindsay Newman. Her favourite is the cookies. “Everything is fresh, delicious, kosher,” Newman said. “It just makes my heart feel good to see them working so hard.” Another regular, Charles Schachnow, is also partial to the cookies. “The chocolate chip cookies are the best. Best I’ve ever had,” he said. The idea began about two summers ago, when 11-year-old Dobie Soroka wanted some money of his own. His mother, Ronja Soroka, had a suggestion. “I said, you know, if you want to have spending money, I don’t give them allowance,” she said. “He’s figured out this is how he’s going to make some money and then everyone sort of got involved, and it’s a family affair.” Now, each sibling has a role. Dobie specializes in cookies, while Miriam gets an early start on the bread before heading to her job across the street. “They get up and they bake, and every day new customers, new experiences, new questions, new personalities,” Ronja said. “They work as a team, they set up, clean up, they divide up their jobs.” They’ve also picked up a few business lessons along the way. The siblings adjust how much they bake based on demand, take pre-orders and have learned which products sell best. Some customers have even arrived looking to buy nearly everything on the table. The young entrepreneurs have learned to negotiate too. “We did not let them get away with, like, a little price because we wanted their money,” Hadassa Soroka said jokingly about one particularly large order. Ten per cent of the bake sale’s proceeds are donated to Torah Day School of Ottawa, a private Jewish School with about 100 kids from pre-k to grade 12. The remaining money belongs to the kids. Some goes towards helping cover camp costs, while the rest provides a budget for summer activities, from Slurpees and ice cream to one particular family favourite, renting boats. “If you want to get your boat rentals, make a bake sale,” said Ronja. “That’s what they do, they make their budget, they make their vision.” But the family says one of the biggest returns hasn’t been financial. The stand has introduced the siblings to people from throughout the neighbourhood, with customers becoming familiar faces and, in some cases, friends. “We meet all these people in our neighbourhood and in all the places near us, and then we see them in the grocery store, we seem them around and we’re like, ‘Oh, we know you,’” Ruchie said. “And it’s just a lot of fun.” Ronja says she has been surprised by just how much community has formed around a simple driveway bake sale. “This had been such a beautiful journey,” she said. And as long as the ovens keep running, their regulars appear more than happy to keep coming back.
