Gourmet Bake Shop owner and master baker Joe Gifoli said he never expected to still be operating the same New Hyde Park bakery when he opened the shop at 755 Hillside Ave. 22 years ago.
“I didn’t think I was going to be here this long,” Gifoli said. “New Hyde Park has been good to me over the years.”
And Gilfoli, who was 26 when he bought the shop, has not only survived but thrived, recently doubling the size of the bakery after taking over the store next door.
The added space has allowed him to expand the size of his coffee bar and increase the area for customers to sit at tables. He said he’s also added new pastries and ice cream truffles to his product line.
“I felt like I needed more room to display more products and help the business grow,” Gifoli said. “The original store was cramped.”
The four-month renovation project, which was completed in October, features hardwood floors and some of the building’s original brickwork.
Giofoli said the shop’s new look and size has drawn complements as well as new customers to his location in the Lakeville Shopping Center at the intersection of Hillside Avenue and Lakeville Road.
“I was tucked away in this little shopping center. No one knew I was here. Now the word’s out,” he said.
Giofoli started in the baking business at the age of 17 while he was still in high school in Brooklyn, worked in bakeries in both Brooklyn and Long Island.
When he decided he was ready to start his own business, he said, he contacted a broker who introduced him to the owner of an existing bakery, Saccente and Sons.
Giofioli said the owner, Marco Saccente, only produced bread, so he saw a potential to develop the business.
“I was young. I saw the potential to increase the business,” he said.
Gifoli the location had been the site of a bakery since the 1940s.
In the 1960s and 1970s, before it was owned by Saccente, the location housed Schlosser’s Bakery.
Gifoli said he enjoys the creativity of creating cakes to enhance special occasions for his customers.
“It’s enjoyable creating cake’s for people’s celebrations and providing service for people’s holidays is rewarding,” Gifoli said. “It’s artistic.”
Apart from customers who come in to patronize the shop, he said, he also supplies occasion cakes to some local restaurants with the assistance of a staff of 11 as well as his wife
Judy, with helps out with administrative work.
Gifoli is a member of the Greater New Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce and he said enjoys donating baked goods to community groups for raffles at local events.
“I usually support churches and civic groups,” he said.
