Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Calise.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
In 1908, my great grandfather, Francesco Calise, founded Calise Bakery. He was a visionary and set out to live the American Dream. Now, as the fourth generation leader of our family company, I have the duty of carrying out our family’s vision of being the best specialty baker in the Northeast. Our state of the art bakery is located in Lincoln, RI and we are now serving customers throughout RI, MA and CT each day with fresh bread, rolls and other baked goods. In 2015, we partnered with Piantedosi Baking of Boston to purchase the sales of Quinzani Bakery, a well-known bakery in the Boston area. Then, in April of 2016, we opened a sales branch in Wilmington, MA to further develop our routes in the Boston area. Recently, we moved our sales branch to Billerica, and now have 12 routes serving customers from Boston to southern New Hampshire. Our mission statement says it all….”produce high quality bread and rolls in a safe and clean work environment while delivering excellent customer service at a competitive price”. We have an excellent sales team working out of Billerica and have nearly doubled our business in the area since 2015. If you are looking for great products and customer service, contact us and we will be glad to earn your business. For further information, please visit our website at www.calisebakery.com.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We have worked very hard at building our business here in Boston. There are many, many fierce competitors in the area all looking to serve the same customers. We also struggled in the beginning with finding the right route sales representatives to fit within the Calise culture. But, with hard work and dedication to our customers, we persevere and push forward through the challenges.
Please tell us about Calise & Sons Bakery.
Unlike many of our competitors in the Boston area, we are a manufacturer and distributor of fresh baked goods. Many of the companies are simply distributors who source their baked goods from many different suppliers. As a baker and distributor, we have the unique ability to provide our customers with consistent, high quality baked goods at a competitive price. One characteristic of our company that we are very proud of is our food safety certification. We have been BRC certified since 2013 and most recently scored an “AA” rating in our BRC audit in January. We also make sure that we purchase from suppliers who have similar food safety credentials. Therefore, customers can rest assure that they are getting the highest quality products to serve to their customers. Lastly, we are very proud of our sales team that we have developed. From order taking through delivery, we always strive to give our customers an excellent experience. It is the blend of high quality products and excellent customer service that sets us apart from others and is the reason that we are growing our business to new levels.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I have many, many favorite memories since I come from an Italian family heritage where family means everything. If I had to pick one that relates to my passion for the bakery business, it would be riding alongside my father in the bakery truck as he delivered bread to customers. It was great to see his energy and devotion to our customers and how they interacted with him. Not to mention, the great breakfast and lunches that some of the customers gave us to get us through the day on the bread truck! I always looked forward to riding on the bread truck on a Saturday morning; it was a lot of fun!
Contact Info:
- Address: 2 Quality Drive
Lincoln, RI 02865 - Website: www.calisebakery.com
- Phone: 800-225-4737
- Email: mcalise@calisebakery.com (President); mpritchard@calisebakery.com (VP Sales); welliot@calisebakery.com (Sales Manager, Billerica)
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