General Info

In 1915, Mario DeBenedetti began baking Italian breads in Lockport, Ill., using family recipes he brought to America from his homeland. He called his bakery Milano, after the Italian city he remembered from his youth. Demand for his fresh-baked breads grew quickly, and in 1926, the Milano Bakery moved into a new building. The company still turns out hearth-baked breads and rolls that are available in grocery stores and restaurants throughout Chicago. The DeBenedetti family also operates two retail shops that offer cakes, cookies and other sweets made from scratch. Its food services products include Italian breads, bagels, biscotti, hamburger and hot dog buns, Italian cookies, Italian pastries, Kaiser dinner rolls, pizza crust, pumpernickel, sour dough and wedding cakes. The company, now known as Milano Baking Company, is headquartered in Joliet, Ill.