Calise & Sons Bakery, Inc.

OUR HISTORY

In 1908, Francesco Calise founded Calise & Sons Bakery, Inc. The original bakery was located on Atwells Ave. in the Federal Hill section of Providence. It was a small retail bakery that offered a home delivery system. The products made on a daily basis were Italian breads and rolls as well as Italian pastries, biscuits and cookies. When Francesco retired in 1954, his four sons, Gaetano, Peter, Michael and Joseph succeeded him. By this time, the bakery had moved to Sutton St. on Federal Hill. The second-generation brothers continued to focus on retail sales and home delivery and experienced very little growth. The business was virtually bankrupt when it was sold in 1972 to the third generation of Calises- Michael, Robert and Joseph. The third generation brothers closed the retail bakery and began to focus on wholesale accounts.

In 1973, the Calise brothers secured their first major wholesale account, Star Market. They began manufacturing a variety of rolls under the Star Market private label. That relationship continued through the year 1999 when Shaw's Supermarkets purchased Star.

In 1979, the bakery moved its operations to the Silver Lake section of Providence. This was a larger bakery and offered the opportunity to expand production and sales. It was during the next two decades that the bakery flourished to become one of the leading specialty bakeries in the Northeast.

The company experienced rapid growth in the 1980's by acquiring competitors that were either going out of business or being sold. The Calise brothers didn't buy the bricks and mortar of these companies; they bought customer lists and sales. These acquisitions allowed the business to expand its route distribution, sales staff and customer base. In the early 1990's, the bakery was yet again considering expansion to a larger facility. Instead of moving though, the Calise brothers invested in more efficient machinery to increase productivity in the Silver Lake bakery. After a few more years of rapid growth and with the addition of a national account, the bakery was at full capacity.

During these periods of rapid growth, the Calise brothers also invested in a highly skilled management team. They created a team consisting of individuals dedicated to quality control, food safety, maintenance, human resources, finance and sales. That management team became an integral part of daily operations and has contributed greatly to our success.

In 1997, the Calise brothers and their management team began planning a new bakery. After three years of planning and execution, Calise & Sons opened its new 70,000 sq. ft. bakery in the summer of 2000. The bakery now manufactures over 140 varieties of baked, par baked, and frozen products and distribute a full line of white bread products, bagels, breakfast pastries, pockets and wraps for foodservice accounts. Additionally, Calise & Sons has strong DSD programs for the Deli and Commercial Bread Aisle departments of supermarkets. The Calise & Sons brand has grown to be one of the strongest brands in New England.

At Calise & Sons, we attribute our success to a unique blend of family recipes and modern technology. Each day, our dedicated and hard working employees are baking, packaging and delivering fresh baked products of the highest quality in appearance and taste. Our daily deliveries extend throughout New England and other parts of the Northeast. We are confident that we have satisfied many customers over the years and we will continue to do so in the future.