Just after the World War II Nikola Bukvic, by then already a schooled pastry chef came back home to Yugoslavia after spending couple years as a forced laborer in Germany. Nikola spent a number of years working in a few well know hotels in Belgrade, but he always dreamt of having his own patisserie and serving people delicious sweets. In 1956 Nikola and his wife Zora moved to a newly built suburb of Sarajevo, Grbavica to open their JadrankaPastries. At that time Grbavica only had four apartment buildings and was out of the way for most people. Nikola and Zora worked very hard those first years, they struggled to sell their pastries and often had to give away their Bohems, Shamponez and other delicacies to the neighboring kids rather than throw them out, but they persevered.
As Sarajevo rebuilt after WW II and Grbavica grew so did JadrankaPastries. They made beautiful wedding cakes, tea cookies and their display grew to house numerous different kinds of decadent pastries and JadrankaPastries became a place where young and old alike gathered for delicious pastries. In time Nikola and Zora’s pastries became the favorite among all the citizens of Sarajevo.
During the 1984 Winter Olympics held in Sarajevo, Vucko the logo of the games was brought to chocolate life by JadrankaPastries. The chocolate Vucko made its way into the hearts and bellies all over the World. By the end of the 1980s JadrankaPastries pastries had two locations and over 20 employees.
In 1992 as the war in Bosnia broke out JadrankaPastries was forced to close and flee after 36 years of serving its customers. Seven years later in 1999 Nikola and Zora’s grandchildren decided to continue Nikola’s vision or making make people smile. On February, 07 2004 JadrankaPastries had its grand opening in its new country made possible by the overwhelming support of their old and new loyal customers. In addition to the JadrankaPastries retail shop, JadrankaPastries now serves over a dozen specialty food shops, supermarkets and restaurants all over South Western Ontario. JadrankaPastries has even filled special request for their Bohems and Shamponez To all over Canada, USA and even Europe.