These New Jersey Bakeries Have Been Family-Owned For Generations And Still Taste Like Tradition
There is something magical about biting into a pastry that tastes exactly like it did fifty years ago. New Jersey is home to bakeries where the same families have been rolling dough, frosting cakes, and pulling bread from ovens for generations.
These places are not just businesses but living traditions, where recipes pass from grandparents to grandchildren and the smell of fresh-baked goods has become part of the neighborhood itself.
I have spent years chasing down the best bites across the state, and these thirteen bakeries represent the heart of what makes New Jersey food culture so special.
1. Calandra’s Bakery – Newark, Caldwell & Fairfield
Walk up to Calandra’s Newark storefront and you can almost feel the years baked into the bricks.
Luciano Calandra opened his tiny Italian and French bakery here in 1962 after immigrating from Italy, and he pulled dough through the night until the neighborhood knew his bread by scent alone.
Today, his sons and grandchildren run three Calandra’s locations, turning out crusty Italian loaves, sfogliatelle, cannoli, and breakfast pastries in a 50,000-square-foot operation that supplies supermarkets, restaurants, and even stadiums across the region.
2. Carlo’s Bakery – Hoboken
On Hoboken’s Washington Street, you can spot Carlo’s before you see the sign. There is usually someone snapping a photo outside, drawn by the fame of Cake Boss, but locals were lining up here long before television.
The bakery started in 1910 under Carlo Guastaferro, then passed to the Valastro family in 1964, and it is still a family shop at heart, now run by Buddy Valastro with help from siblings and children.
Inside, the glass cases glow with cannoli, lobster tails, and towering cakes.
3. Italian People’s Bakery – Trenton & Mercerville
In Trenton’s Chambersburg neighborhood, Italian People’s Bakery starts its day before sunrise.
The ovens have been doing that since 1936, when the business began and started building a reputation for seeded Italian loaves, cannoli, and overstuffed hoagies.
Nearly ninety years later, the bakery is still family-run, now in the hands of the next generations, with locations in Trenton and nearby Mercerville.
Regulars wander in for breakfast pastries, linger over long cookie cases, then leave balancing boxes tied with string.
4. LaRosa’s Pastry Shop – Shrewsbury
LaRosa’s feels like the kind of place your grandparents might have visited on a Sunday, and for many families, that is literally true.
The LaRosa baking legacy dates back more than 110 years, with the current Shrewsbury shop carrying on the family craft in New Jersey.
Inside the low-slung storefront, the cases stretch for many feet, loaded with Italian cookies, biscotti, sfogliatelle, and the ice cream cannoli that locals whisper about at holiday time.
The recipes have traveled through multiple generations who still run the shop.
5. Deluxe Italian Bakery – Runnemede
In Runnemede, Deluxe Italian Bakery looks like a classic South Jersey corner institution, and that is exactly what it is.
The Racobaldo family opened the bakery in 1949, and their name is still above the door, along with the smell of freshly baked Italian bread.
Step inside and you find racks of warm rolls, cookies in old-school pastry cases, and cakes being frosted in the back.
The same family has guided the place for more than seventy years, and the current generation still talks proudly about their grandfather’s recipes.
6. L&M Bakery – Delran
If you ask people in South Jersey where to find an old-fashioned donut, the trail often leads to L&M Bakery in Delran. This small shop started more than half a century ago and has stayed in the same family ever since.
The founders built a following on simple things done right, from glazed donuts and crumb buns to birthday cakes piped by hand.
Today, their children and grandchildren keep the mixers humming, opening the doors at six in the morning to serve commuters and regulars who know to come early.
7. Supreme Bakery – West Orange
Supreme Bakery feels like a snapshot of New Jersey in 1969 that never faded. That is the year the Stolz family opened the doors, and they have kept them open as a family enterprise ever since.
The cases are stacked with crumb cake, jelly-filled donuts, and butter cookies, while in the back, decorators pipe frosting onto elaborate custom cakes for birthdays and weddings all over Essex County.
On weekend mornings, the line winds around the shop, a weekly ritual that links several generations of customers with several generations behind the counter.
8. Abbate Bakery – Matawan
Abbate Bakery brings Brooklyn bakery traditions to a small Main Street in Matawan. The Abbate family has been family-operated since 1976, starting out in Brooklyn before planting roots in New Jersey and bringing their recipes with them.
Inside, trays of Italian cookies, cannoli, and layer cakes glow in the glass, and the shelves are lined with holiday specialties that sell out fast.
The family still runs the shop, and you can feel that in the way regulars are greeted and in the careful way every box is packed.
9. Britton’s Gourmet Bakery – Wildwood Crest
Down the shore, Britton’s is the place where summer mornings quietly begin. The bakery has been a Wildwood Crest fixture since 1965, and it is now in its third generation of family ownership.
In season, the lights come on before dawn as trays of cream-filled donuts, cinnamon rolls, and sticky buns slide out of the ovens.
A line usually forms along Pacific Avenue, beach chairs and flip-flops waiting for warm pastries to take back to rentals and motels. Britton’s is seasonal, closing in the deep off-season.
10. Backiel’s Lithuanian Bakery – Elizabeth
Backiel’s sits quietly on a side street in Elizabeth, but inside it feels like a direct line to Eastern Europe.
The Backiel family has owned and operated this bakery since 1974, and multiple generations now work together shaping dark Lithuanian rye breads, poppy-seed loaves, and holiday pastries.
Locals know to time their visits for when the bread comes out of the ovens or to catch them at area farmers markets, where their booth draws long lines.
It is a rare place where you can pick up a loaf that tastes like something baked in a village oven.
11. Fattal’s Syrian Bakery – Paterson
Walk into Fattal’s on Main Street in Paterson and you step into a swirl of spices, stacks of pita, and trays of sweets that seem to stretch forever.
The Fattal family opened their bakery here in 1968, then slowly expanded it into a full Middle Eastern market.
The heart of it is still the bakery line, where hot rounds of pita roll out of the ovens and manakish topped with zaatar or spiced meat slide onto the counter.
Several generations of the family now run the business, and regulars come for everything from baklava to marinated kebabs.
12. La Gran Via Bakery – Union City
In Union City, La Gran Via is the Cuban bakery that has quietly anchored the block for decades.
The bakery opened in the early eighties and has stayed in the same family ever since, described as a family-owned and operated bakery that has been a local cornerstone for more than forty years.
Inside, the cases are filled with pastelitos, flaky guava and cheese pastries, tres leches cakes, and crusty Cuban bread stacked in tall piles.
Morning regulars grab strong coffee and pastries, while families stop in later for birthday cakes.
13. Sweet Eats Bakery – Voorhees
Sweet Eats feels a bit more modern than some of the century-old spots on this list, but its roots are just as firmly planted in family.
The bakery opened in 1987 and has been family-owned and operated ever since, growing into a destination for custom cakes across South Jersey.
Inside, decorators turn out towering wedding cakes, playful children’s designs, and seasonal cupcakes, while the front case holds cheesecakes, cookies, and everyday treats.
The owners are still hands-on, and families come back year after year for every milestone that needs a cake.