KANSAS CITY — John Anthony Orlando has flour in his blood, and maybe some Italian breadcrumbs as well. When he was 5 years old, he would spend time with his cousins at their families’ neighborhood bakery, which served double duty as a daycare center while their mothers ran errands. By the time he turned 12, his first official job involved working on an assembly line, tying dough into knots for dinner rolls.

“I worked with a bunch of ladies who only spoke Italian, and I didn’t,” recalled Mr. Orlando, president and chief executive officer of Cleveland-based Orlando Baking Co. “The only thing I understood was, ‘Faster. Faster. Tie them faster.’”

Mr. Orlando is part of the fifth generation to oversee the company along with Nick Orlando Jr., vice president of sales and marketing; Daniel Vincent Holan, chief administration officer; Chris Orlando, vice president of national sales; and John C. Orlando Jr., chief operating officer/general counsel.

Renowned for popularizing ciabatta bread in the United States, the company is celebrating its 150th anniversary since Guistino Orlando, the great-great-grandfather of the current management team, founded the bakery in Castel de Sangro in the Abruzzo region of Italy, in 1872. In 1904, Guistino’s sons moved to Cleveland, where the bakery became a regional institution in Northeast Ohio. The bakery moved to its current wholesale bakery location in 1979 when the fourth generation consisting of Chet (Sonny) Orlando, John C. Orlando Sr. and the late Nick Orlando Sr., laid the foundation for the current company’s business model serving retailers and foodservice chains across the nation.

Congratulations to the Orlando family for passing the test of time. Here’s to another 150 years of success.