Cellone’s Italian Bread Expands with Pittsburgh Bakery
New location allows fourth-generation family business to double production.
Cellone’s Italian Bread Company will celebrate the opening of a 111,900 square-foot bakery in Pittsburgh on Thurs., May 28 at 10 a.m. with a ceremonial “bread cutting” by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.
The family-owned company, which is in its fourth-generation, will move operations from its 58,000-square-foot plant in Carnegie to the industrial park on Napor Boulevard, nearly doubling its production capacity. Cellone’s, which has 140 full-time employees, expects to add up to 50 new employees over the next five years based on the expanded capacity.
“Pittsburgh has been our hometown for over 100 years, and we’re so thankful for the generations of families that have been our customers,” company president Randy Cellone said. “When scouting for a new location, we chose to stay in Pittsburgh because the city and region have always been extremely supportive.”
Cellone’s bread products are distributed throughout western Pennsylvania and the tri-state area, with deliveries to approximately 250 grocery stores and 1,500 restaurants. Customers know their products from the aisles of the Shop N Save and Giant Eagle regional grocery stores, to the hoagie rolls at local pizza chains and the hot dog buns at PNC Park, the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates MBL team. Ten years ago, Cellone’s launched a line of frozen products, which allows customized breads and rolls to be distributed to 48 states.
“Expansions by businesses that call the Pittsburgh region home account for the majority of regional economic development activity annually,” said Pittsburgh Regional Alliance (PRA) President David Ruppersberger. “On average, 70 percent of announced projects are expansions of existing regional businesses. The PRA congratulates Cellone’s on being a part of this ‘grow our own’ trend with the investment celebrated today. We say that expansions are the backbone of our regional economy, but considering Cellone’s investment, perhaps they are more appropriately the bread [and butter] of the region’s economy.”
Currently, Cellone’s operates its Carnegie bakery 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with two production lines to meet sales demands. The Napor Blvd. facility will have four fully automated production lines, increasing efficiency, product quality and consistency.
Cellone’s Bakery was founded in Pittsburgh in 1911 by two brothers who emigrated from Torino, Italy and built their home above a brick-oven kitchen in Bridgeville. Today the company sells an assortment of bread, rolls, hoagie buns, croutons, breadcrumbs and bagels, with 14 family members involved in the day-to-day operations of the business.