×

D’Urso: Family, bread

NILES

Dominic D’Urso stops talking, closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

It’s that particular scent that carries him back to his youth and the roots of being a baker’s son; it brings a smile to his face and puts a sparkle in his eye.

For him, it’s all about family and bread.

“We’re all in this together. We have been all our lives, my brothers and sisters and me. We learned the business from our father. He taught us two basic principles, work hard and watch your business. Know what’s going on at all times. So far, so good,” he said.

The city has changed, as has the building where Dominic and his five siblings grew up watching their father work, jumping in to help as soon as they were capable. But the scent of fresh bread baking at the corner of South Cedar Street in Niles, home to D’Urso Bakery, has remained a constant for the neighborhood for 135 years. More than 50 of them have been under the care and wisdom of the family’s 87-year-old patriarch, Anthony D’Urso Sr.

Anthony D’Urso Sr. started working at the bakery in the early 1950s, purchasing the business from the previous owner in 1959. He replaced the building in 1965 and invested in a new oven and bread line. In 2015, as the family marks the 50th year the new building has been standing, D’Urso Bakery is looking to expand and upgrade with new equipment for the first time since the mid-1990s.

This year the bakery, which has been using much of the same equipment for decades, will be adding a new roll system that will be more automated and roll out dough at a quicker pace. The company is also hiring more workers. Dominic D’Urso said the family hasn’t finalized some of its expansion plans, but is looking at necessary changes to meet increasing demands.

“I’m not complaining, though. It’s good to be able to be in business as a family for so long and we’re still going,” he said.

Dominic D’Urso said when he was 10, the bakery produced about 140 dozen buns a week. These days, the business rolls out about 15,000 dozen each week. Each week the bakery uses 50,000 pounds of flour to make the rolls plus about 5,000 loaves of Italian bread, 10,000 pizza shells and at least 3,000 pepperoni rolls. D’Urso’s products are moved across several states through its business agreements with Warren-based AVI Foodsystems and other companies. The bakery also supplies county fair vendors throughout Ohio.

Although D’Urso Bakery is operated primarily by Dominic and his oldest brother, Anthony Jr., the other siblings, Ralph, Albina, Maria and Angela, are part of the business as well.

“I’d say the past 50 years have been good to us,” Anthony D’Urso Jr. said. “At this point we have no choice but to make a few changes to keep up with everything we’re doing. We work hard, but that’s what it takes.”

Despite focusing most of its resources on filling orders, the bakery also welcomes its regular daily walk-ins.

“We do what we can. Where we’re at now, how we work, this is how and where we’ve been working as a family for 50 years now,” Dominic D’Urso said. “If not my father, than his children. I think that’s quite an accomplishment, to be in business this long as a family. And my father? He still calls the shots. We don’t make any decisions without him. We don’t even question that.”

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
     

Starting at $4.85/week.

Subscribe Today