Customer service, fresh food keep them coming to Cappuccino Bakery

July 16, 2013 · 0 Comments

Spotlight on Business

By Mark Pavilons
When you enter Nobleton’s Cappuccino Bakery, you feel like a kid in a candy store. Everything looks so inviting, you don’t know where to start.
Fortunately, seasoned staff are there to help. And you’ll often find co-owner Frank Agostino behind the counter.
Customers trickle in constantly – couples, moms, professionals, seniors and blue collar workers. They’re all greeted with a smile.
It’s not just an eatery or a solution to your dinner party – it’s a destination, a draw, exactly what King Township is looking for.
Agostino and Rocco Zapone are fully involved in the operation and management of the business, each bringing their own unique expertise to provide their customers with quality products and service.
Agostino began working at the Open Window Bakery at age 14 and never looked back.
Frank has been involved in the industry since then, operating a number of bakeries and eateries in the Vaughan and King areas, for more than 30 years.
It’s people – all sorts of people – that keep Agostino going. “I enjoy what I do. It’s in my blood.”
When customers stop in, some from 20 years back, they’re happy to see Frank is still running the shop.
He’s had to work at it to build a solid reputation by offering top quality foods. From full breakfasts, to oven-baked pizzas and homemade breads and lasagnas, Cappuccino Bakery has all the bases covered. Frank admitted that if he had more room, he’d offer an even bigger selection.
His veal and chicken dishes fly out the door on a daily basis. The pastries and gelato, all made on site, will temp you.
Cappuccino is open bright and early at 5:30 a.m. in the summer months, catering to the early risers and workers who have to be on the job site early.
The customer base is varied. The regulars stop by for their favourite menu items. Those working in the area on construction projects stop by to pick up a lunch to go, and often come back with family and friends to enjoy a more leisurely meal. City customers, who stopped in once or twice on their way to a cottage, now have become regulars and phone ahead to pick up an order en route to a weekend retreat, or to a favourite vacation spot. Many of the staff of local businesses come in to pick up lunch as take-out, while others choose to enjoy the ambience of eating in the restaurant.
Quality suppliers ensure consistency and quality in the menu items. Ingredients are purchased within the 100-kilometre radius as often as possible, and closer to home whenever the opportunity is available. Fresh produce is often purchased, in season, directly from local farms.
The menu has changed, and offers a greater variety. The visual impact is very important in the selection of food, and the location offers abundant display space. One of Frank’s favourites is his potato pizza, and now he has the room in the hot table to display it.
Recipes for the menu items at Cappuccino Bakery come from old family recipes, from the lists of favourites of staff, from friends, and from the creative spirit of the owners. There is a wealth of combined talent and experience among the staff, resulting in the creation of dishes which satisfy the many different tastes of the customers. New items, like the five different stuffed breads and the half dozen different chicken entrées, always add interest to the already inspired menu.
Agostino has it down to an art. It all comes down to taste.
A small army of more than two dozen staff keep the wheels turning at Cappuccino. Everything is made fresh, almost around the clock.
Frank Agostino and Rocco Zapone opened the Cappuccino Bakery in 1983 at Pine Valley and Highway 7.
In 2006, they moved the business to the location on King Road, east of Highway 27 in Nobleton.
The current location was purchased in 2009 with construction beginning in 2010. Although it was a long time coming, with many delays, having the sewer system finished enabled them to relocate and expand, and made it possible for the business to grow.
It opened mid-May 2012 and Agostino said he’s overwhelmed with the unbelievable response in his first year in the new locale.
Cappuccino Bakery has almost 3,200 square feet on the main floor for service to customers, allowing for more display counters and a larger open area. On the lower level, there is ample space for storage, and a separate area dedicated to daily food preparation and manufacture items for business-to-business.
Cappuccino provides products, as a wholesaler, to local and out-of-area businesses in the retail food and hospitality markets. The bakery also offers their clients catering and specialty orders.
Agostino has many reasons to smile. And he’s put many smiles on the faces of his loyal customers, who consider him a mainstay in the community.