My great-grandfather, Paul Anthony Neri, was born and raised in Italy, in Reggio Calabria. After arriving in the United States, he and his wife Domenica opened Neri’s Bakery on Beech Street in Port Chester back in 1910. The first space was a small, one-room garage where they made bread using original family recipes from Italy.
According to my grandmother, the beginning years were not easy. They worked long, hard hours, every day and night. Once my great-grandparents outgrew the Beech Street space, they relocated to Wilkins Avenue, followed by another move to Pearl Street. After Paul Anthony passed away, his son (and my grandfather) Anthony Paul Neri continued running the business with my grandmother, Theresa Neri. They had five children: Dominick (my dad), Paul, Salvatore, Sondro, and Donna.
Today, my father Dominick Neri is CEO, and he runs the company with my uncle Paul, who is VP. My other uncles are still involved, also.
In 1999, we demolished a parking lot and a building that was a block away from our current building. There used to be an ice cream company between the two properties, but in 2008, we bought them out and then built another structure to connect everything. Today, we have more than 300 employees (we had only about 20 employees in 1975) and sell more than 300 different varieties of bakery goods.
We are a true family business and I’m proud to be a part of it.
—Brett Neri, Director of HR/Operations, Neri’s Bakery Products, Inc.
â–º For more of Westchester’s 100-Year-Old Businesses, click here.
â–º For more from 914INC’s Q2 2013 Issue, click here.
