Having been in the baking business their entire lives, the Madonia family had come to expect the unexpected. But no one can be prepared for a total, devastating loss, such as the one that occurred on March 20, 2007, when a fire completely gutted their bakery in Las Vegas. Tony Madonia Sr., C.E.O. and president of Great Buns Bakery; his wife Lynn, secretary and treasurer; and son Tony Jr., vice president and general manager, sat outside the bakery throughout the night and watched all they had worked for burn to the ground. The fire started in one of the small rack ovens. Apparently, the firebox had a small crack in it. Fire spread from the oven, up through the exhaust, eventually starting the ceiling on fire. Ceilings were low in the original bakery. “There were sprinklers throughout, even in the drop ceiling,” Tony Sr. says. “The sprinklers went off, but there was just no chance. Once the fire heated the wooden rafters, there was no turning back. The fire department said it was too hot inside. We're dry enough already in Las Vegas.”

Grateful for their employees' commitment throughout the years, one of the first things the Madonias did was pay each worker a full week's pay and retained about half the staff. Then, they agonized about whether to rebuild, a question that really didn't require any thought. “This is what we do,” Tony Jr. says. “We had been in business 26 years. So, we started drawing and figuring out how we could put the bakery back together.”

Great Buns Bakery opened for business 15 months later, all the while fighting an uphill battle to retain as many of its former customers as possible. When the bakery started back up in June, it literally had no customers. After three months, the bakery has regained 70 percent of its former customers, and has bids in to attain the remaining few, once the customers' current contracts expire. “In a very short time, we should be back to where we were,” Tony Sr. says.

A history of baking

Perhaps the Madonias can credit their perseverance to their family's history. Both father and son are hardcore bakers, having been born into the field. Augie Madonia, Tony Sr.'s grandfather, was a baker in Italy, until he moved his family to Buffalo, N.Y. There, he and his wife Linda owned and operated Royale Rolls Bakery, one of the country's first volume bakeries dedicated to supplying fast food operators, such as McDonald's, Burger King and other restaurants in New York. Augie retired and moved to Las Vegas in 1980.

Although Augie has since passed away, he was instrumental in starting Great Buns Bakery in Las Vegas, after he realized a market for high quality, European-style breads and rolls was rapidly developing in the area. After two years of retirement, Augie, Linda and Tony Sr. bought a retail bakery and started selling their crusty breads and sweetgoods, which eventually broadened into a wholesale business. Tony Sr. and Lynn moved west and joined the wholesale operation in 1983, followed by Tony Jr. in 1990, after the family purchased a 8,000-sq.-ft. facility that grew to 17,000 sq. ft.

Facing a total loss

The Madonias built their business throughout the years, providing a diversified portfolio of products to meet their customers' needs. “We try and be as diversified as the hotels are,” Tony Jr. says. “You have price-point buffets to fine dining restaurants with world-class chefs. But it's not just the hotels. There are restaurants, sports bar chains, bars and taverns.”

(Above) A fire completely destroyed Great Buns Bakery in March 2007. (Below) Great Buns reopened for business in June, 15 months after the tragedy.

Aside from their own employees, the Madonias worried most about taking care of their customers immediately after the fire. “We take care of a majority of the hotels in Vegas,” Tony Sr. says. “At the time of the fire, there was no way we could take care of anyone. We contacted every single customer within the first 36 hours after the fire — from the guy who comes in from the sub shop to the biggest hotels. We were trying to help our competition take care of our customers. Supply came in from Utah, California, Arizona and everywhere. We did a lot of the ordering.”

Fortunately, the Madonias were able to save the computer's hard drive from the fire, which was located in the part of the building that suffered the least amount of damage. Tony Sr. broke the window, reached in and pulled the server out, which contained all of their customers' ordering history, complete with part numbers and quantities used.

However, the computer wasn't the only important item saved. Twelve hours after the fire, the Madonias entered the burned out facility and recovered a 30-lb. vat of sourdough starter that was 26 years old. “We saved just enough so we could keep feeding it and keep it going until we rebuilt,” Tony Jr. says. “We immediately put the starter on a refrigerated truck and brought it to our other retail store, where we continued to feed it for 15 months while the bakery was down. We were able to bring the starter back to the bakery after we started back up.”

About 50 percent of the bakery's employees were retained and paid while the bakery was rebuilt. These employees assisted with a variety of tasks, from working in the retail store, to helping with reconstruction.

Though the insurance company wanted to set up the bakery in another building temporarily, the Madonias couldn't see the feasibility in it. “How do you set up a fully automated line,” asks Tony Jr. “It's like setting up General Motors in a gas station. We have automatic scoring machines and automatic packing lines. By the time you get set up and go through all the proper licensing, it would take months. It was better to put our energies into rebuilding.”