Local bakeries on the rise; Acquisitions, building boom for family firms.(News)(Alpha Baking Co. to acquire Natural Ovens Bakery Inc. )

Crain's Chicago Business, April, 2007 by MURPHY, H. LEE

Byline: H. LEE MURPHY Three family-owned Chicago bakeries are on an expansion track. Alpha Baking Co., based on the West Side, agreed in late February to acquire Natural Ovens Bakery Inc. in Manitowoc, Wis., for an undisclosed sum. Specializing in whole-grain breads, Natural Ovens has annual sales of almost $20 million.

Michael and Lawrence Marcucci, who are cousins, co-own Alpha Baking. Their cousins Nicholas and Thomas and assorted other Marcuccis own and run rival Gonnella Baking Co. Gonnella, which has production plants in Chicago, Aurora and Schaumburg, is building a plant in Hazelton, Pa., its first outside the Chicago area. The smallest of the three, Campagna-Turano Bakery Inc. of Berwyn, is building a plant in Florida. The family-owned firm,...

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