Mom and pop Italian bakery opens in Sparta

By Thomas Bias
SPARTA — Joe Gigante, it seems, was born to be a baker.

In 1964 his father Peter Gigante bought Goehrig’s Bakery on Central Avenue in Jersey City, and began making and selling Italian-style breads, cakes, pastries, and cookies.

In 2005 Joe took over the business, continuing in his father’s tradition.

This year he and his wife Nancy have opened a second bakery at 43 Theatre Plaza in Sparta, a location where for most of the last 30 years there has been a bakery.

Even though the business has belonged to the Gigante family for nearly a half a century, it is still called Goehrig’s Bakery.

The Gigantes, who live in Green Township, are proud to be running an old-fashioned family business — family-owned and family-operated.

They want the people of Sparta to know that the Mom and Pop bakery that so many people remember fondly is still around.

All of the employees at the Sparta location are members of the Gigantes’ extended family. Nancy Gigante is responsible for the bookkeeping, marketing, customer relations, and all the aspects of the business that don’t involve actual baking.

During the summer months, when school is not in session, she brings their two young sons, Joseph, 6, and Daniel, 4, to the bakery with her. They are fast asleep, however, when Joe comes to work. He starts each day at midnight, making everything which will be sold that day, dividing the pre-dawn hours between the Jersey City and Sparta locations.

By 7 a.m. he is ready to open; the bakery stays open until 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and until 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Everything they sell is baked on premises, including muffins, Italian-style butter cookies, cannolis, cakes, pies, and a wide variety of breads.

Among their favorite products are their stuffed breads, stuffed with pepperoni, sausage, or broccoli rabe.

Sfogliatelle, delicate pastry dessert shells, which are stuffed with a variety of fillings, including almond paste, ricotta cheese, or French cream, are also popular items.

The days are long, but the family is together through the long hours. Based on the boys’ interest in the business as children, it seems very likely that Goehrig’s Bakery will continue with a third generation of the Gigante family.