Bakery lands biggest client in Liverpool with 'huge announcement'

Carmine began as a pizza maker at 13-years-old in the small Italian city of Potenza. After years of honing his craft across various different eateries, at 21 he started his studies at the school of Italian Pizzeria.

As his love for the food industry, and more specifically for baking grew, he moved to Liverpool where he began baking sourdough and various other Italian bakes for his brothers, Paolo and Donato, in their P&D cafe (now Gran Caffe) on Tarleton Street.

in 2023, he decided to capitalise on its success and open his own venue, Carmine's Italian Bakery on Jesse Hartley Way. Since then, he and his team have been serving up a vast array of authentic Italian focaccia sandwiches and sourdough loaves

Carmine's business now supply their various breads to some of the city's favourite venues including the likes of Derek's across their four locations, Bamboo, Emily’s (in Crosby), Penelope (Formby), Carlisi, Il Forno, Panoramic 34, Brunch Club and more.

In a recent celebratory Instagram post, Carmine said: "Huge announcement! We have landed the biggest client in the city… Liverpool FC. We will now be supplying their hospitality restaurant with the best Italian sourdough, focaccia, buns and more!"

Carmine previously told the ECHO: "The relationship with the customers who we serve outside my shop is also really nice. Sometimes collaborations are formed, like Derek's, who opened his first shop with my bread. We made this bread especially for him, and he's now opened four shops. This is just one example."

The bakery's popularity has also seen them draw interest from further afield, with their loaves now being shipped around 100 miles away to customers in the Isle of Man.

He said: "Our bakery is very close to the Isle of Man Steam Packet Terminal so it's quite handy for them. They usually call up a few days earlier and message us via Instagram and order a few hundred loaves of bread that lasts them a while, as you can freeze them, some also get our sandwiches."

Besides his team of bakers and servers, Carmine is also given a helping hand in running the business by his family, with his wife, Antonella, working in promoting the business to potential new clients while his eldest son, Andrea, helps run their Jesse Hartley Way bakery and his eldest daughter, Elena, helps oversee their social media.

He said: "My family's support is really important for my growth right now. My wife helps me run the business, my son, Andrea, helps me. As for my expansion outside of Liverpool, she's spreading the word about me to other venues, carrying samples of my brochures, promoting my products to other venues, and my daughter helps me with social media, which is really important now."

While the business continues to go from strength to strength, Carmine has no plans to stand still and take stock of the bakery's success, instead he has full focus on the future.

He said: "My plans for the future are to continue expanding my bakery, expanding my production throughout the UK, and expanding another very important concept: gluten-free, which has become a major demand among the population today. This means developing new gluten-free breads, pizzas, and focaccias. This is a very, very important path."