Cellone’s Bread: Baked with Family Traditions
During the holidays, members of the Cellone family get together to tell stories of past years, remember our history and enjoy each other’s company. With three generations currently working and managing the bakery there is no shortage of memories.
The third generation vaguely remembers the founders who in 1911 bought a small house in Bridgeville, PA. The two brothers, Raffaele and Antonio, emigrated from Torino, Italy with less than $50 dollars between the two of them with the hope of starting something new in the land of opportunity. Bringing their family recipes and hearth-style baking with them, the brothers built a brick oven in the basement of their house. They soon started baking and delivering their Italian baked goods throughout the neighborhood, door-to- door, by the use of a horse drawn wagon and soon by motor car. The family still has the photo of Raffaele on his 1915 Harley motorcycle.
The founders passed the baking knowledge down to Raffaele’s son, Ernesto Cellone who took over the bakery with his wife Kathryn. Ernest, “Ernie” as he was known, invented the egg bun and brokered the deal that made Cellone’s first local Italian bakery to sell bread throughout the grocery chain A&P. All four of Ernie’s children came in to manage the business and expanded the grocery sales into all major chains and moved the bakery into frozen national sales when Pittsburgh took a down turn in the 1990s. The third generation, Jay, Randy, Kristin “Pinky” and Laurie expanded the current line of products to include a wide variety of custom breads and rolls for delivery throughout the region.
What started with two brothers is now in its fourth generation of family ownership and management in Pittsburgh, PA. Today, there are 12 family members involved in the daily operations of Cellone’s bakery, all descendants of Raffaele Cellone. Several members of the 3rd generation are still involved, working closely with the newest members of the 4th generation. The Cellone Family also includes 175 full-time employees who work every day to ensure that fresh bread is delivered to all of our customers.
From one brick oven to a fully automated bakery, with state-of- the-art technology and over 100 years of Italian-style baking experience Cellone’s can bake over 6,000 loaves of bread an hour. Cellone’s serves the Pittsburgh area with fresh bread daily and across the US through Thaw and Serve and par-baked product lines.
2018 Family Business Award winner by the Pittsburgh Business Times
Founder: Raffaele Cellone on his Harley
Second generation: Ernesto “Ernie” and Kathryn Cellone
Third generation – from left back Lorraine and Jay Cellone, Randy Cellone, Ernie Cellone (2nd)
From left front – Kristin “Pinky” Cellone Mizia and Joe Mizia, Laurie Cellone Edwards and Kathryn Cellone (2nd)