The Origins of Brother Juniper’s Bakery

Many people have asked us how we came up with name, Brother Juniper’s Bakery, especially as we are not Franciscans. The original Brother Juniper was a monk who was part of Saint Francis of Assisi’s original band. Stories about him in The Little Flowers of St. Francis portray him as a simpleton with a heart of gold who always manages to teach an important lesson about virtue to the other, more sophisticated, monks. The first Brother Juniper’s Restaurant opened on Haight Street in San Francisco in 1968 and served a five-cent cup of coffee and inexpensive sandwiches to the street people and hippies. It was one of the earliest service works of our brotherhood, which was begun in 1968 under the name, Holy Order of MANS. In succeeding years Brother Juniper’s restaurants were opened in Boston, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Amsterdam (Holland), Portland, Oregon (where it was called Ezekiel’s Wheel), and finally, in 1986, Forestville, California. By that time our entire order had entered the Eastern Orthodox Church and we changed our name to Christ the Saviour Brotherhood.