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THE NAME GONNELLA,
for Chicago food connoisseurs, conjures up visions of freshly
baked, aromatic, crisp-crusted bread. A true hearth-baked
product baked fresh every day of the year.
THE GONNELLA
BAKING COMPANY
now produces over three million pounds of product weekly,
from a total of seven lines in five facilities. The current production capabilities
are far more sophisticated and extensive than the original
operation, which processed a few hundred loaves weekly in a
basement shop on Chicago's De Koven Street. The bread that
comes out of the ovens today is the same top quality product
that Alessandro Gonnella produced in his small, wood burning
oven when he founded the company over a century ago.
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Our
President, Nick Marcucci, sums up the company philosophy
this way…
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THE YEAR WAS 1886
and Alessandro had purchased a small storefront bakery on Chicago's
De Koven Street where he had learned his trade. Since he was the
operation's sole employee he mixed the doughs, baked the bread,
delivered the products and even kept the books for his fledgling
neighborhood enterprise. Alessandro's little business thrived.
IN
1896,
he moved his Gonnella Bakery to a larger building on Sangamon Street
near Ohio Street. By then he had brought his wife, Marianna Marcucci,
over from his northern Italian village of Barga. In the early 1900's
his teen-aged brothers-in-law, Lawrence, Nicholas and Luigi Marcucci
joined him in the United States to assist Alessandro in his growing
business.
IN 1915,
the Erie Street plant, now the corporate headquarters, was built.
By then the horse drawn delivery wagons were making over 200 stops
per day. Other plants were purchased, and by the end of World War
II, the higher volume sale to grocery stores and restaurants had
supplanted home deliveries.
AND THE BUSINESS STILL
CONTINUES TO GROW.
In the mid-1970's Gonnella entered the frozen dough category, establishing
a strong presence as a supplier of the highest quality doughs for
the in-store bakery industry. This effort was very successful. In
1980, a plant was purchased in Schaumburg, Illinois and dedicated
exclusively to this purpose. Frozen dough products are now distributed
nationwide.
The GONNELLA-MARCUCCI
FAMILIES
are still operating the bakeries much as their grandfather and great-grandfather
did so many years ago. A total of 33 family members work for the
company today.
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