Milano Bakery hits century milestone

JOLIET – Brothers Darin and Mario DiBenedetti III remember walking around their grandfather’s basement as young boys – with pairs of ripped-out Italian bread rolls as makeshift shoes.

“I’m thinking ‘Dad, instead of throwing these rolls out or making bread crumbs, why don’t we make shoes out of ’em?’ ” recalled Mario DiBenedetti III, 49, of Joliet, on a recent Friday morning. “We grew up sleeping on flour sacks and helping our dad out with early morning delivery runs.”

With such stories, it’s easy to see how the art of bread baking runs deep in the DiBenedetti family’s blood – 100 years deep. Milano Bakery, 427 S. Chicago St., is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

For many years, the two brothers’ childhood home was located next to the Chicago Street bakery. The fourth-generation family business has been in Joliet since 1926, but the bakery has been in the family since 1915, beginning with immigrants Mario DiBenedetti Sr., his sister Mary, and brother-in-law Frank Soffianti.

The family business – named after Milan, Italy – has been passed down from one generation to the next, but “nobody was ever given nothing,” Mario DiBenedetti III explained.

“Our father taught us to work hard,” said Mario DiBenedetti III, company president, who oversees the business and planning. His brother Darin is vice president and handles production.

“My dad didn’t turn the bakery over to me. He sold it to me. He taught me how to survive in the baking business,” Mario DiBenedetti III said.

Portraits of Mario Sr. – who died in 1977 – and Mario Jr. – who died in 2005 – hang on the wall of the bakery’s retail shop. In a way, the pair remain a part of the family business.

“That’s my dad, there, with the smile,” Mario DiBenedetti III explained, pointing to the wall behind the pastry counter on Friday morning. “Then that’s my grandfather there on the mixer.”

‘That’s fourth generation’

The struggles and challenges of running a family business are not taken lightly by Mario DiBenedetti III or his family. Milano Bakery survived the Great Depression because of his grandfather’s work ethics.

“Put it this way. ... The only two times anyone ever really saw him without his working clothes was his wedding and his funeral. It was my grandpa’s way of doing it,” he said. “The business was a smaller version than it is now. He worked, he delivered it. He wore many hats.”

The two brothers know firsthand how to survive an economic downturn. When the economy tanked five years ago, flour prices skyrocketed to about $40 a bag. But the family thrived and survived, Darin DiBenedetti said.

Darin DiBenedetti takes pride in the family business and the hard work that comes with it. He enjoys knowing his children pitch in, too.

“That’s fourth generation right there,” Darin DiBenedetti said, pointing to his 20-year-old daughter Antoinette as she walked past.

Further on down the family line are Darin’s four other children: Drake, Victoria, Luke and Anastacia – ages 19 to 14. There’s also Mario’s two children: 21-year-old Gina and 17-year-old Samantha.

“They all help out,” Mario DiBenedetti III said. “Nothing’s going to be given to them. Like I keep saying, it’s blood, sweat and tears. That’s what I’m talking about. It’s about working hard.”

Many employees are family members. The brothers’ wives, Dana and Laurie, wear many hats – as does the rest of the DiBenedetti family – helping out with pastry baking, wedding cakes, sales and customer service.

Delivery driver Mike Talarico, 60, has been with the business for several decades. He joked that he can’t quite put his finger on “why he sticks around.” But he said he certainly feels part of the DiBenedetti family.

‘A household name in Joliet’

The Milano name is familiar in the Joliet area. The business’ retail shop offers bread, pastries, cookies and cakes, but also offers wholesale bread to Joliet grocery stories and restaurants in the region and other states.

The bakery offers more than 150 assorted types and sizes of Italian bread, Ciabatta, focaccia, Pullman loaves, French bread and Kaiser rolls.

Darin DiBenedetti said they strive for a “clean label” and simple bread recipes. A few years ago, the family added an artisan bread line into the mix.

They’ve also modernized the bread baking process – made possible with a 20,000-square-foot building addition that included a larger packaging area and stone-lined, high-efficiency ovens.

But the bread baking takes time, he said.

“The slower you make the bread, the better it’s going to taste,” Darin DiBenedetti said.

The build-out and new technology was necessary a few years ago, when the company realized loyal customers weren’t leaving anytime soon and the company’s customer base grew.

“In the late 1980s, it would take us three hours to bake 13 racks of bread,” DiBenedetti said. “Now, we do it in about 45 minutes.”

Working in a family business together is about having a common goal: surviving and loving what you do, Darin DiBenedetti said. It’s also about communication and taking care of the business and family.

“We all have different personalities and strong points. You hear all the time about the baker who starts up a small bakery business. The barber who runs a small barber shop business, but they didn’t know how to run it,” Darin DiBenedetti said. “You need an entrepreneur. That’s my brother. You need the technician. That’s me. You also need the business man, and I think we all encompasse that.”

“I love bread,” he added. “It’s in our DNA.”