The Stolfos, who are both 84, have been baking bread, pastries, wedding cakes and more at their bakery at 910 W. Fairview Ave. since 1965. Rinaldo’s Bake Shoppe is a Kosher bakery that operates under Rabbinical supervision, and it has served the Dayton area’s Jewish community from its inception. The couple decided to stay open through Sept. 13 so they could provide Challah and other baked goods for their longtime Jewish customers for the Jewish new year.
“We’ll take care of our customers,” Anna Stolfo said. “They’ve been so good to us over the years.”
The Stolfos attempted to retire more than two decades ago, and their son, John, 56, had been operating the bakery in recent years, but is recovering from surgery. “We came back to work to help our son,” Rinaldo Stolfo said. The 6,000-square-foot building is for sale, as is the business, the Stolfos said.
Family members also operated bakeries in the Arcade in downtown Dayton for more than a decade until 1992 and in Kettering from 1996 to 2002.
Rinaldo immigrated from Italy to Dayton in 1957 and said he “didn’t speak a word of English” when he arrived. He
served as a pastry chef for Hilton Hotels and created cakes from the bakery workshop in his home. He and Anna stated running Owens’ Bakery in the early 1960s and purchased the previous owner’s interest in the bakery in 1965, renaming it Rinaldo’s.
In its heyday, the Fairview Avenue Rinaldo’s was such a popular destination that police had to direct traffic outside the building around Jewish holidays. The bakery at one time employed six bakers and six sales clerks, Anna said.
But many members of Dayton’s Jewish community moved to the suburbs, and business slowed over the years. The cost of ingredients, especially for eggs, sugar and flour, have risen dramatically, the Stolfos said.
“We absorbed it, and we always kept up the quality,” Rinaldo said.
For more on this story and for other local business news, like our Dayton Business Facebook page.
About the Author