RIDGEWOOD-Television's “Cake Boss” opened the second Carlo's Bake Shop - the second in more than a century - here over the weekend.
Buddy Valastro, the mega-star of TLC's show called “The Cake Boss” did expand into a 50,000-square-foot factory in Jersey City a year ago. Last June, he launched a retail line of cakes that are available in grocery stores.
The original Carlo's in Hoboken, though, was the only bakery outlet for his wares until now.
The long lines outside the tiny shop on Washington Street where Valastro's father presided before he did have become a staple of Hoboken street life.
The store at 12 Wilsey Square across from the Ridgewood train station opened Saturday in the aftermath of a blizzard. The shop has a milk bar and serves coffee along with Valastro's famous cakes and cupcakes. In addition, Valastro says he is “experimenting” with a “naked cake bar,” where customers can have a cake built to their specifications.
Valastro says he plans to open five such bakeries this year in northern New Jersey, within driving distance of the Jersey City plant.
Valastro told a reporter the Ridgewood shop is his “baby.”
"This is my baby more so than Washington Street in Hoboken," he said. "That was my dad's dream and he built it.”
The chef says he will eventually rebuild the Hoboken shop along the lines of the 3,000-square-foot Ridgewood model.
Carlo's now employs about 170 people at the Jersey City factory.
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