ar·ti·san
At Importico’s, every item is crafted by hand using the finest and freshest ingredients, and served fresh daily. This is made possible by a team of dedicated and skilled artisans who work tirelessly day and night to deliver the highest level of quality and consistency to our valued customers. Our unwavering commitment to providing the finest baked goods using time-honored traditional methods will never change. It is who we are.
Joseph & Carol Importico
Family owned & managed with love
Established in 2003, Importico’s Bakery Café is the culmination of the longtime dream of Joseph and Carol Importico… to recreate an original artisan bakery and neighborhood café in the classic European tradition.
The Importico name originates from a long-standing and respected Italian lineage. Joseph’s family came to the U.S. in the early 1900s. His father was an avid baker and passed the appreciation for the craft along to his son. Growing up, Joseph would frequent the neighborhood bakeries. On one of these occasions, the owner noticed him eyeing an éclair and made it a gift, one that Joseph will never forget. Over the years, while serving in the air force, pursuing a career, and raising a family, Joseph never lost track of that childhood memory and his father’s teachings. When the opportunity arose to acquire the successful Mr. Bread bakery in Stuart, FL, Joseph leapt at the chance.
Today, Joseph is up early every day creating new recipes and overseeing the operations of our two locations. He is fulfilling a personal commitment to introduce a new level of health consciousness with all-natural, fat-free and dairy-free breads and a new line of gluten-free and vegan products.
Carol entered the world of baking following successful careers in business administration, management, customer relations and child-raising. These experiences all helped make Carol the efficiency expert she is today and allows her to wear many aprons as she manages the front end of both bakery locations and coordinates special orders and catering. Carol loves to cook and personally prepares many of our delicious hot breakfast and lunch items. Her primary goal is making customers happy. She can be found behind the counter with a smile every day at one of our locations.
Joe’s passion for baking and Carol’s love of cooking inspires them to create new and original recipes on a regular basis, so be sure to ask about our specialty breads, cakes, cookies and pies and breakfast & lunch specials.
“John the Baker”
Fulfilling the legacy of four generations
Our bakery manager is known simply as “John the Baker.” Baking is what he does. It is what he knows. John is the fourth generation in a long heritage of bakers, originating with his great grandfather in Sicily in 1909. It has always been John’s passion to follow in his family’s footsteps. His experience began at an early age. John’s grandfather operated a popular bakery in Philadelphia in the 1960s which was taken over by John’s father. Growing up, John worked alongside his dad learning the fine art of crafting cannoli and Italian pastries. John eventually moved on to accept a position in industrial baking and management. He relocated to Florida in the 1990s to oversee baking operations for a chain of specialty markets. When the opportunity arose to take over as bakery manager at the popular Mr. Bread in Stuart, John saw it as a place where he could continue his family’s tradition and share his love of baking with the world.
“My goal at Importico’s is to maintain quality and consistency and stay true to the old-world baking methods that bring out the real flavors and textures,” says John. “We are still using the same baking methods that my great grandfather practiced in Sicily in 1909.”
Importico’s Bakery Café
Where baking is our way of life
