Fortunato Brothers Bakery has been hand-making cannolis, cookies, and sfogliatelle in Brooklyn since 1976, using the same recipes the founders brought from Naples, Italy.
On a busy day, the team produces up to 7,500 cannolis or 9,000 cookies, all while sticking to old-school techniques that haven’t changed in decades.
Between $90,000 annual insurance policies, $70,000 ovens breaking, and ingredient costs that swing without warning, keeping a 50-year-old bakery alive in New York is a daily fight. But the second-generation owner Biagio Fortunato is determined to keep things running for the next generation.
