Anthony Dattolo immigrated to the United States from his native Italy in 1952. The elder Dattolo was born in Alcamo in northwestern Sicily. In the beginning of the Denville, NJ-based Anthony & Sons Bakery, Anthony Dattolo focused on what he knew best: fresh Italian artisan breads and rolls.

“We started as an Italian bakery with a focus on long fermentation,” said Baldo Dattolo, president and chief executive officer. “Dad and I were making the bread. I was baking 12 hours a day, and my brother Joey [now vice president] was selling.”

The passion came early for young Baldo Dattolo. He started baking when he was 14, and even then, the craft, art and science left an indelible mark. 

“I instantly loved seeing a product you created yourself and scoring it by hand,” he said. “That left an impression on me: the creativity of making something new, seeing the quality of something I made with my hands, immediately.”

That passion for the craft and their focus on tradition led to significant success. Year over year, Anthony & Sons experienced double-digit growth as they initially served foodservice customers, mostly small sandwich shops. As they grew, the family expanded their products to include rolls, hoagies and rye breads to meet customer demand.

In 2008, Baldo Dattolo and his brother opened the first Anthony & Sons Little Italy Bakery-Market-Café attached to the Denville baking facility, which opened in 2000 after much demand from the company’s consumer base in the Northeast. At the store, shoppers could not only purchase Anthony & Sons’ bread but also Italian goods and a sandwich or salad from the café. Today, there are two retail locations, the original and another in Succasunna, NJ. 

“We’ve been in the area for 40 years, and people always asked for a store,” Baldo Dattolo said. “It’s since become something of a landmark, and it’s been good to have for customer visits. It’s a place where customers can see how they can use our bread.”

In 2014, Anthony & Sons started reaching retail and foodservice customers around the country with frozen baked goods. Demand had grown enough throughout the country that Baldo Dattolo said frozen was the only way to fulfill it. The brand recognition that Anthony & Sons has enjoyed in the Northeast has only expanded as customers and consumers have migrated to different parts of the country.

“We have a Northeast-style of product, and as people have relocated around the country, they ask for our bread because they miss it, so we get requests from the South, Midwest and even the West Coast,” said Ben Rizzitello II, vice president, sales and marketing.

Anthony & Sons developed its EZ Freezer to Oven and EZ Ready to Use Thaw & Sell lines to make it simple for in-store bakery customers to have fresh, high-quality bread without having to rely on skilled labor to proof and bake. 

“With the labor issues the retail segment is up against, they look for that ease of use at the store level,” Rizzitello explained. “Frozen dough can limit sales because what you bake in the morning is what you have to sell. Freezer-to-oven also lets you feed the racks throughout the day, and the end user can control the waste.”

Rizzitello was brought on four years ago with the directive to grow the frozen side of the business. In that time, Baldo Dattolo pointed out that frozen has exploded from being 10% to 15% of the company’s business to 60% and growing. 

“It’s the fastest-growing segment for us,” he said. 

It’s from this place of seeing the marketplace turn that Rizzitello and Baldo Dattolo developed both The Avocado Bread Co. and the Italian Classic products. Both lines are a product of Anthony & Sons’ commitment and investment into a robust R&D program.

This article is an excerpt from the May 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Anthony & Sons Bakery, click here.