Milano Bakery Inc

Milano Bakery has brought Joliet fresh-baked goods since 1915. Every morning for four generations, a member of the DeBenedetti family has made sure that the bread dough rises long before the sun does. The first to get flour on their hands was Mario DeBenedetti I, who began baking hearty Italian bread in 1915 using family recipes he brought over from his homeland. He called his bakery Milano after the Italian city he remembered from his youth. Demand for his fresh-baked goods grew quickly and in the 1960s he handed the bakery over to his son, Mario DeBenedetti II. Aside from running a successful business, Mario II was an active member of the community and a proud member of the American-Italian Cultural Society. In the 1990’s the hands of ownership began to change again as Mario II’s sons, Mario III and Darin, began the process of purchasing the bakery from their father. Today, the bakery and the retail store continue to thrive under Mario III and Darin DeBenedetti, as they begin training the fourth generation in the day-to-day operations of insuring quality, consistency, and customer satisfaction in the one hundred-plus items created daily. Throughout the years Milano Bakery has seen two World Wars, The Great Depression, Vietnam, and numerous other international crisis. Through it all Milano Bakery has kept the same core values of Tradition, Service, Quality, and a commitment to always strive to improve. The DeBenedetti’s sincerely thank their many loyal customers and treasured employees for making their first one hundred years possible.