Business & Tech

DiBartolo Bakery Feeling the TV Bump

A day after its small-screen debut in Save My Bakery, the Collingswood bakery was bustling with foot traffic.



For the first day back after a holiday weekend, Tuesday brought with it a welcome, if unusual, customer rush at Collingswood's DiBartolo Bakery.

Not that anyone was complaining. Added interest from the 44-year-old bakery's cable television debut kept the place humming all day.

"It's crazy right now," said baker Manuel "Manny" Agigian. "From 8 until 3:00, we were jumping. The new desserts are flying out of here.

"Everything that [Save My Bakery host] Kerry [Vincent] had shown us, it's working."

Agigian said that customers were keen to sample many of the new additions to the menu: its updated ricotta pie, cupcake lollipops and, of course, his own chocolate layered dessert, which won special accolades from Vincent on the program.

"We've gone through about six dozen of these today," he said. "That's insane."

After a few months of living with the new menu items and the new look of the bakery, the DiBartolo staff said things are aligning nicely.

"This product fits the place," Agigian said. "It looks like it belongs here."

Al DiBartolo Sr. joked that "TV puts 50 pounds on you," but other than that, he said that he was pleased with the way the episode turned out.

"At first you don't know what was going to happen, how they were going to portray you," he said.

"That was a little nerve-wracking. But we were happy with the outcome.

"You need sometimes an outside, professional eye to give you the information you need to make yourself succeed," DiBartolo said.

Everyone at the shop also had a kind word for Vincent, whom they said had remained in contact after the production to see how everyone was getting on with the adjustments.

"I know sometimes she gets a bad rap for coming off mean, but she's the sweetest person you ever want to meet," DiBartolo said.


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