Carlo's Bake Shop, commonly known as Carlo's Bakery and also known as Carlo's City Hall Bake Shop, [1] is a bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey, owned by Buddy Valastro. The bakery has gained public attention as the setting of the TLC television series, Cake Boss .
In 1910, Carlo's Bakery was founded by Italian pastry chef Carlo Guastaferro, and in 1964, it was purchased by Bartolo "Buddy" Valastro Sr. [2] Valastro's son Buddy Valastro currently runs the bakery, with help from his four older sisters, three brothers-in-law, and other assorted family members and friends. One notable employee was Sal Picinich, who began working at the bakery shortly after the Valastro family purchased it, and continued until his death on January 30, 2011. [3] [4]
The bakery rose to fame with Cake Boss , a reality television series that premiered on TLC in April 2009, depicting the staff of the shop creating elaborate custom-order novelty cakes. [5] As a result, the shop became a tourist attraction, [6] and a key institution in Hoboken and Hudson County. [7]
As a result of the popularity of Cake Boss, Carlo's Bakery built a new factory at Lackawanna Center, a mixed industrial-retail complex in nearby Jersey City. [8] Carlo's Bakery has leased space at the complex, which is used for additional space to make specialty cakes, as well as the ability to make baked goods for shipment across the country. Because of the limited space at the Hoboken location, Carlo's Bakery was unable to ship cakes beyond normal driving distance from the bakery; the bakery had conducted a limited trial Internet sale of pies in October 2009, to test the viability of selling baked goods on the Internet. [9]
On May 24, 2011, Carlo's Bakery opened its first branch location, Cake Boss Cafe, at the Discovery Times Square Exposition at 226 West 44th Street in New York City's Times Square. This location offers Carlo's Bakery's smaller baked goods, as well as bakery and Cake Boss merchandise. [10] On February 10, 2013, the Bakery opened its first full-range branch location in Ridgewood, New Jersey. [11] [12] On September 1, 2013, the Bakery opened its third bakery location in Westfield, New Jersey. The next bakery opened on November 23, 2013, in Red Bank, New Jersey. [13]
In January 2012, as a result of the attention brought to the city of Hoboken by the shop and the TV series, the Hudson Reporter named Buddy Valastro Jr. as an honorable mention in its list of Hudson County's 50 most influential people. [14] [13]
On March 20, 2014, Carlo's opened a location in Morristown, New Jersey. [15] and on March 31, one in The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, the company's first on the West Coast. [16] [17]
On December 5, 2015, Carlo's Bakery opened a location at The Florida Mall in Orlando, Florida. [18] [19]
On November 10, 2016, Carlo's opened a kiosk in Willowbrook Mall, in Wayne, New Jersey. Other New Jersey locations include Marlton and Westfield. [20] A month later on December 8, Carlo's opened a location in São Paulo, the company's first bakery outside the United States. Managed by Rick Zavala, the winner of the RecordTV reality television competition series Batalha dos Confeiteiros . [21]
On August 1, 2018, the Red Bank, New Jersey store closed after the lease expired. A spokesperson for the company announced that the company sought to create a different kind of dining experience similar to the location in Texas, for which the Red Bank location was not appropriate. The other five Carlo's Bakery locations in New Jersey remained open. [22] [23]
In January 2019, a spokesperson for Carlo's Bakery confirmed that the Morristown and Ridgewood locations for closed in recent weeks. [24]
The Main Line is a commuter rail line owned and operated by New Jersey Transit running from Suffern, New York to Hoboken, New Jersey, in the United States. It runs daily commuter service and was once the north–south main line of the Erie Railroad. It is colored yellow on NJ Transit system maps, and its symbol is a water wheel.
Hoboken Terminal is a commuter-oriented intermodal passenger station in Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, it is served by eight NJ Transit (NJT) commuter rail lines, an NJ Transit event shuttle to Meadowlands Sports Complex, one Metro-North Railroad line, various NJT buses and private bus lines, the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail, the Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH) rapid transit system, and NY Waterway-operated ferries.
The Morristown Line is an NJ Transit commuter rail line connecting Morris and Essex counties to New York City, via either New York Penn Station or Hoboken Terminal. Out of 60 inbound and 58 outbound daily weekday trains, 28 inbound and 26 outbound Midtown Direct trains use the Kearny Connection to Penn Station; the rest go to Hoboken. Passengers can transfer at Newark Broad Street or Summit to reach the other destination. On rail system maps the line is colored dark green, and its symbol is a drum, a reference to Morristown's history during the American Revolution.
Hoboken, New Jersey, is home to many parks, historical landmarks, and other places of interest.
Morristown station is a NJ Transit rail station on the Morristown Line, located in Morristown, in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. It serves an average of 1,800 passengers on a typical weekday. Construction of the historic station began in 1912 and the facility opened November 3, 1913. A station agent and waiting room are available weekdays. The station's interior was featured in Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" video in 1984. Just west of the station, at Baker Interlocking, the Morristown and Erie Railway branches off the NJT line. The M&E's offices and shop are here.
Summit is a train station in Summit, New Jersey, served by New Jersey Transit's Morris & Essex Lines. The station sits between Union Place on the north and Broad Street on the south, with station access via either side, and between Summit Avenue on the east and Maple Avenue on the west. Constructed in 1904–1905 by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in a mile-long open cut, it is one of the few NJ Transit stations with platforms below street level.
Dover is an active commuter railroad train station in the borough of Dover, Morris County, New Jersey. Located at the end of electric service, Dover station serves as a secondary terminal of NJ Transit's Morristown and Montclair-Boonton Lines. Non-electric service continues west to Hackettstown on both lines. The next station to the west is Mount Arlington while the next station to the east is Denville. Dover station consists of a single island platform, accessible for the handicapped.
Willowbrook Mall is a one-level shopping center with a partial second floor located in Wayne, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is near the intersection of New Jersey Route 23, U.S. Route 46, and Interstate 80 in the New York metropolitan area and is situated close to both Essex and Morris counties near the Passaic River. The mall features more than 165 retail establishments and a leasable area of 1,518,006 square feet (141,027.4 m2). It is the fifth-largest shopping mall in New Jersey. The mall opened in 1969 and was expanded or renovated in 1970, 1988, 2006, and 2015.
Paramus Park is a shopping mall located in Paramus, New Jersey, United States. It opened in 1974, is owned by Brookfield Properties, and has a gross leasable area (GLA) of 770,941 sq ft (71,622.8 m2).
Ridgewood is a railroad station operated by New Jersey Transit in the village of Ridgewood, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. A major transfer station, Ridgewood has two high-level platforms for the Main Line and Bergen County Line.
Cake decorating is the art of decorating a cake for special occasions such as birthdays, weddings, baby showers, national or religious holidays, or as a promotional item.
Cake Boss is an American reality television series, which originally aired on the cable television network TLC. The series premiered on April 19, 2009, and has spawned four spin-offs: Next Great Baker, Kitchen Boss, Bake You Rich, and Bakery Boss.
The Broadway Bus Terminal is a major local and regional bus terminal in Paterson, New Jersey operated by New Jersey Transit. It is located on Broadway between Memorial Drive and West Broadway in Downtown Paterson, putting it near Passaic County Community College and a few blocks from Paterson City Hall and the Great Falls Historic District, including the Great Falls.
Ultimate Cake Off is an American television series that aired on TLC. The show is based on professional cake artists that go "head-to-head" in constructing cakes over five feet tall with the assistance of a team of chefs, designers etc. for a money prize. Season one of the series, hosted by Michael Schulson, premiered on August 3, 2009. Season two, hosted by George Duran, premiered on February 1, 2010. Professional bakers Margaret Braun and Leigh Grode join the hosts as judges.
Bartolo "Buddy" Valastro Jr. is an American baker, reality television personality, and businessman. He has taken his small, family-owned bake shop, Carlo's Bakery, and turned it into a baking and restaurant empire. Valastro is best known as the star of the reality television series Cake Boss, which ran on the TLC cable channel from April 2009 until April 2020. He has also starred in Next Great Baker (2010), Kitchen Boss (2011), Buddy's Bakery Rescue (2013), Bake You Rich (2013), Bakery Boss (2013), Buddy vs. Duff (2019), Buddy vs. Christmas (2020) Buddy Valastro's Cake Dynasty (2023-present) and Legends of The Fork (2023-present)
Next Great Baker is an American television series that airs on TLC, hosted by Buddy Valastro, the star of his own reality series, Cake Boss. The show features contestants participating in challenges that test their edible art baking and decorating skills. Each week, a contestant will be eliminated; the last contestant standing will win a grand prize package that varies by season. Other prizes for winning a challenge or the week's competition are also offered during the series.
The first season of Next Great Baker was televised from December 6, 2010, to January 24, 2011, on TLC. During this season, the last contestant standing would win $50,000 cash, a Chevrolet Cruze and an apprenticeship at Buddy's bakery, Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Kitchen Boss is an American television series that airs on TLC, hosted by Buddy Valastro, the star of Cake Boss. The weekday series debuted January 25, 2011, with a second season debuting January 31, 2012.
The second season of Next Great Baker was televised from November 28, 2011 to January 30, 2012 on TLC. This season was set at the new Carlo's Bake Shop facility at Lackawanna Center in Jersey City, New Jersey.
The third season of Next Great Baker aired from November 26, 2012, to February 11, 2013. Like the previous season, this season was set at the Carlo's Bake Shop facility at Lackawanna Center in Jersey City, New Jersey. Unlike the previous two seasons, the finale for this season took place outside of the greater New York City area – in this case, in Las Vegas, Nevada at The Venetian Las Vegas.
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