Shelby Wholesale Bakery Wins Best Small Business Award of 2012

Dolce Panetteria Foods, LLC of Shelby Township has proven to be a slice above the rest with the Best Small Business Award for 2012. 

After working with Dolce Panetteria Foods, LLC, to secure develop a business plan and secure funding, the Macomb County Department of Planning and Economic Development and the Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Center (MI-SBTDC) awarded the wholesale bakery the prestigious title of Best Small Business Award for 2012. 

The award was presented at the Michigan Celebrates Small Business event in Lansing May 3.

Dolce Panetteria Foods supplies grocery stores with a line of Michigan-made products under the Orchard Valley brand. Specialties include glazed fruit breads, gourmet breakfast breads, crumb cakes, breadsticks, cookies and puff pastry fruit sticks. 

The business got its start in 2009 when brothers Jim, a mortgage broker, and Bill Asaro, a baker, began to dream about the possibility of bringing decades-old family recipes to market. Before long, they were baking in a small retail space and selling their specialty breads at local markets. Investor Kirk Morris, who noticed the demand for the product had skyrocketed, helped the brothers find a larger space in Shelby.

When the young company encountered barriers to securing necessary funding, they turned to the Macomb SBTDC office for help, and worked with a small business counselor.  They developed a business plan that met the expectations of bank loan officers, and were able to purchase equipment and hire five full-time employees. Today, Dolce Panetteria has the capacity to bake more than 10,000 loaves per week. Their customers include Hiller’s, Holiday Market, Hollywood Market and Warren-based Lipari foods who then distribute the product to stores throughout the Midwest.

Future plans include expanding their distribution channels with hopes of getting their products on shelves on the East Coast and in surrounding markets. They’ll also expand their product line to include new crumb cake flavors such as apple caramel, pumpkin spice and cranberry orange as well as a line of whole grain breads. 

“Our customers let us know a long time ago that our product was a winner. We are grateful to the SBTDC staff of the department for their expert guidance which helped us make our dream a reality,” said Morris in a press release.

For more information on the company and the products they carry, contact them at dpf@workmail.com. For more information about Michigan Celebrates Small Business, go to http://MichiganCelebrates.biz.