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Piantedosi Baking Co.'s third generation, Tom Piantedosi, president and C.E.O.; Joe Piantedosi, Jr., executive vice president, marketing and business development; and Bob Piantedosi, senior vice president, operations, continue to build on the foundation their grandparents started 93 years ago in Everett, Mass. Today, the company operates two facilities in Malden, Mass.

At Piantedosi, much emphasis is placed not only on quality and food safety, but on increasing process efficiencies using innovative engineering techniques — an accomplishment Bob credits to Nada Somasundram, the company's director of engineering. In addition, the bakery has R&D capabilities that enable it to satisfy its customers' needs.

Throughout the past couple of decades, the Piantedosis have consolidated ownership of their company and strategically worked toward ensuring the viability of their bakery. By carefully maintaining a balance between the company's larger, high-volume foodservice customers and the local independents — the backbone of its business — the owners feel they can grow the top line, while supporting the bottom line. And, protecting the bottom line is an important consideration for a commercial baker operating in a capital-intensive industry.

Building on family foundations

Piantedosi Baking Co. is deeply rooted in the local culture of Boston and its environs, notes Tony Roscillo, C.F.O. Even though he's only been with the company eight years, he became familiar with the company's sub rolls when he was 17 and worked in a sub shop, back when he knew the roll as the Piantedosi roll.

Roscillo remarks on the company's history, noting that each successive generation has learned from the previous one and changed with the times. “It has been nothing short of phenomenal that the third generation has expanded its product nationally,” Roscillo says.

The bakery has made impressive strides since 1916 when Salvatore and Mary Piantedosi started the business by producing and delivering breads and pasta. By the mid-1950s, the Piantedosi family had expanded into a small retail bakery store where it offered its bread, pasta and pastries.

By the 1970s, the bakery was delivering fresh product within a 40-mile radius. Joe Jr.'s father managed the bread business, and his two uncles, the pastry and pasta business. As fresh bread sales increased and pasta and pastry sales declined, Joe's father convinced his brothers to focus solely on fresh bread sales. One of the first pieces of equipment Joe's father bought was a hot dog roll machine he managed to re-construct into a sub roll machine that was capable of producing 6,000 pieces per hour.

The bakery had been operating in a 17,000-sq.-ft., two-story building; 7,000 sq. ft. of which was used for production that accommodated two 9-ft. by 50-ft. tunnel ovens. Because Everett was zoned for retail, Joe's father was proactive in looking for an area that was more conducive to manufacturing and the constant flow of truck traffic.

In 1975, Joseph Piantedosi, Sr. and his brothers opened a 70,000-sq.-ft. bakery at 240 Commercial St. in Malden. The Piantedosi brothers built a small 25-sq.-ft. freezer, thinking all the business was going to be in fresh sales. “That lasted six months,” Joe, Jr. says.

Today, about 57 percent of the company's products are shipped frozen for foodservice accounts. About 42 percent of its products are sold fresh to local and regional markets using independent jobbers. The remaining 1 percent is sold in retail.

The “little big bakery” that could

In the early 1980s, Joe, Jr. was instrumental in expanding the company nationally. In 1995, Piantedosi opened a second 50,000-sq.-ft., state-of-the-art facility at 129 Commercial St. — a block away from its established plant. To a Piantedosi employee, the facility's respective street number, 129 or 240, helps distinguish one building from the other.

When the company initially moved to Malden in 1975, it was using about 100,000 lb. of flour per week. Today, the bakery uses about 500,000 lb. of flour per week during its peak season, which runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day. It averages about 400,000 lb. of flour per week during the winter months.

Production lines in building 240 include two roll lines for subs and hoagie rolls; one soft roll line for hamburger, dinner rolls and deli-style round rolls; one string line for French and club breads; one dough line for frozen dough sales; and an artisan line.

“We're very versatile in building 240, where all lines can interact with one another, so that gives us our flexibility when changing over lines,” says Jerry Savino, director of operations, and a professional baker trained at AIB International, Manhattan, Kan. The versatility of production lines in 240 is helpful because bakeries are dealing with a live product in the form of yeast. “If something breaks down, the dough is not going to wait for you,” Savino says. “You have to make quick decisions and you always have to worry about the customer.”

In building 129, par-baked and fully baked products are made in fluted-style pans using a no-time dough. Dough is mixed in one of two, one-arm mixers, which develops the dough more slowly; or in a two-arm mixer, which develops the dough faster and changes the friction ratio, Savino notes.

Product is baked in pans in one of 13 rack ovens. When you bake directly on a hearth, the process is less forgiving, Savino notes. Moisture loss is typically 10 percent on pans, versus 12 percent on the hearth. Regional preferences can dictate the type of process used.