A local bakery company that started in Buffalo is celebrating its 80th anniversary. Costanzo's Bakery kicks-off a week-long celebration starting this Sunday with a big employee event. WBFO'S Eileen Buckley toured the bakery in Cheektowaga were those famous Costanzo's rolls are baked.
In 1933 Angelo Costanzo senior founded his bakery on the City's West Side along the Niagara River. That's when he started delivering his homemade Italian breads to other small business. Later he relocated to a store at East Delavan and built a small retail operation. When he outgrew that site -- the business was moved to Innsbruck Drive at Union Road in Cheektowaga.
"And we just recently released our retail packaging, and it actually is picturing my grandfather making a deliver to the retail stores back in the mid-1940's. So I think it would be something really to be said to see the business prosper all these years, and kind of be a mainstay in Buffalo and the region," said Angelo Costanzo, III.
Costanzo part of the third generation that now operates his grandfathers's business. His father, Angelo junior, his two brothers and sister all work at the company.
Costanzo's grandmother, now in her early 90's -- she still checks out what's happening at the store.
"My grandmother, she's 92-years-old I think now and you can still find her coming in Saturday's. She helps out in the office. She walks out in the story and says 'you know this isn't as clean as it should be', so it's actually pretty funny that she still comes in and takes pride in it, and you know she's been working since she's been 16-years-old, 17-years-old, back in you know 1939," said Costanzo.
But for the first time in the history of the family-owned business the Costanzo's reached outside their circle. Over a year ago and hired Robert Drago to serve as company CEO.
Drago is a Western New York native and has been around the food industry all his life. His family operated a canning factory in Angola.
Drago was brought in to bring an outside perspective as the company expands its retail business and popular bread products locally, nationally and into Canada.
"The scope of our business of our business is really national. We ship fresh bread in Buffalo and Rochester on ten trucks every day, and we ship product, not in all 50-states, but as far out west as California, Arizona, but the bulk of our frozen business is from pretty much the Mississippi east," said Drago.
Costanzo's wants its retail products to become well-know brand outside of our region. You can already find the products in Western New York supermarkets, but now a big push is on too grow within major supermarket chains in Canada and up and down the East Coast.
“In the bakery business, when times are good retail and food service both grow, and so you get more growth quicker buy being in both, but when the economy is like it is today, and struggling a little bit, people eat out less, they tend to eat home more, and by having a strong retail presence we have the opportunity for people to use our products and purchase them for at home use, where as traditionally our business has always been in restaurants now they can enjoy the same products at home," said Drago.
Employees were busy inside the actually baking facility in Cheektowaga working on that 80-year tradition of delivering a special baking process. It was hot inside, but the smell of fresh baking bread and rolls is mouth watering.
WBFO News asked Drago how they keep the rolls so fresh.
"That’s the secret sauce. Why we’ve made it all these years and thrived, is we believe, the business has changed a lot, but the commitment to the product hasn’t, so we always use the best ingredients, and you think well everybody does, they don’t. When times are tough, people will skimp on ingredients...in good times and bad, we always use quality,’said Drago.
76-million rolls are produced, per year, at the bakery. Soon many consumers will have a chance to taste what so many Western New Yorkers have enjoyed for years -- Costanzo's fresh -- rolls and breads.
Costanzo reflects on the "changing times" and business growth of the bakery.
“As any bakery any industry is very competitive industry. So what we find is that just try to become the nation's neighborhood bakery,” said Costanzo.
Other daily business challenges for the bakery are transporting products, and buying a lot of flour. The flour and most of the company's major raw materials comes from this region.
"So we manage freight indifferent ways, but it is probably the biggest signal biggest cost component that we have to work around. Flour, obviously, being we buy 14 to 15 million pounds of flour a year," said Drago.
The company is working to attract a whole new generation, creating new products for retail. It is growth that Costanzo says brings the company back to its original roots.
"It’s funny, 80-years ago we kind of got into the retail experience, and history seems to repeat itself after a while," said Costanzo. "It’s a very fun, exciting time to kind of expand the product… and really try to become the nation’s bakery."
The company is about to launch a brand new marketing campaign with a new tag line: "Making sandwiches great since 1933". The campaign includes a new radio jingle.
Social media is being used to help spread the word about the product, but for some Western New Yorkers buying Costanzo's rolls is tradition they still willing to wait in line for today.
"Well we have about 2,000 consumers on Christmas Eve just to by fresh bread, a lot of people call ahead,” said Drago. “It's really a testament to what we are all about."