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Buddy Valastro
Bartolo "Buddy" Valastro Jr. (born March 3, 1977) is an American baker, reality television personality, and businessman. He has taken his small, family-owned bake shop, Carlo's Bakery, and turned it into a baking and restaurant empire. Valastro is best known as the star of the reality television series Cake Boss, which ran on the TLC cable channel from April 2009 until April 2020. He has also starred in Next Great Baker (2010), Kitchen Boss (2011), Buddy's Bakery Rescue (2013), Bake You Rich (2013), Bakery Boss (2013), Buddy vs. Duff (2019), Buddy vs. Christmas (2020) Buddy Valastro's Cake Dynasty (2023–present) and Legends of the Fork (2023–present)
Valastro was born in Hoboken. He grew up there and in Little Ferry, New Jersey. His mother, Mary Tubito (1948–2017), was born in Altamura, Italy. She is the daughter of Italian immigrants Nicola and Maddalena Tubito. They moved to New Jersey when she was six years old. His father, Buddy Sr., was born in Lipari, Italy. Valastro grew up with four older sisters: Grace, Mary, Maddalena and Lisa.
He attended Ridgefield Park High School and took baking courses at the Bergen County Technical High School, Teterboro Campus.
Valastro began working at his family's business, Carlo's Bakery at age 11, alongside his father. When his father died in 1994, Valastro was 17 and began to take over the family business. In the fifth episode of the first season of Cake Dynasty, he explains that his oldest son, known as Junior, is the first "Buddy Valastro" to graduate from high school.
Valastro grew the family bakery business into designer wedding cakes that were featured in bridal magazines. Through that exposure he was asked to compete in four Food Network Challenge cake competitions. After losing his first three battles, he took the top prize of $10,000 on "battle of the brides". He then pitched a reality show about life at Carlo's, where he worked with his mother, sister and various in-laws and cousins. TLC picked up the show in 2009.
In 2010 he authored his first book, Cake Boss, Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia. He followed it up with other books, including, Baking with the Cake Boss: 100 of Buddy’s Best Recipes and Decorating Secrets, Cooking Italian with the Cake Boss: Family Favorites as Only Buddy Can Serve Them Up and Family Celebrations with the Cake Boss.
In January 2012, as a result of the attention that the shop and the TV series had brought to the city of Hoboken, the Hudson Reporter named Valastro as an honorable mention in its list of Hudson County's 50 most influential people. He was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2017 and was introduced by Yankees' pitcher Mariano Rivera. At the ceremony Valastro said, "I am damn proud to be from this state."
Carlo's Bakery once had seven locations in New Jersey: Hoboken, Marlton, Morristown, Red Bank, Ridgewood, Wayne, and Westfield. Only the Hoboken and Marlton locations are operating as of December 2023. There are also bakeries in New York City; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Uncasville, Connecticut; Orlando, Florida; Las Vegas; San Antonio, Texas, and Bloomington, Minnesota. There previously were stores in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Westbury, New York; The Woodlands, Texas, and São Paulo, Brazil. The Lackawanna Center in Jersey City, located less than a mile from the original Hoboken shop, serves as the corporate office for the business and is used as additional space to create wedding and specialty cakes, and to bake specialty baked goods for shipment across the country.
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Buddy Valastro
Bartolo "Buddy" Valastro Jr. (born March 3, 1977) is an American baker, reality television personality, and businessman. He has taken his small, family-owned bake shop, Carlo's Bakery, and turned it into a baking and restaurant empire. Valastro is best known as the star of the reality television series Cake Boss, which ran on the TLC cable channel from April 2009 until April 2020. He has also starred in Next Great Baker (2010), Kitchen Boss (2011), Buddy's Bakery Rescue (2013), Bake You Rich (2013), Bakery Boss (2013), Buddy vs. Duff (2019), Buddy vs. Christmas (2020) Buddy Valastro's Cake Dynasty (2023–present) and Legends of the Fork (2023–present)
Valastro was born in Hoboken. He grew up there and in Little Ferry, New Jersey. His mother, Mary Tubito (1948–2017), was born in Altamura, Italy. She is the daughter of Italian immigrants Nicola and Maddalena Tubito. They moved to New Jersey when she was six years old. His father, Buddy Sr., was born in Lipari, Italy. Valastro grew up with four older sisters: Grace, Mary, Maddalena and Lisa.
He attended Ridgefield Park High School and took baking courses at the Bergen County Technical High School, Teterboro Campus.
Valastro began working at his family's business, Carlo's Bakery at age 11, alongside his father. When his father died in 1994, Valastro was 17 and began to take over the family business. In the fifth episode of the first season of Cake Dynasty, he explains that his oldest son, known as Junior, is the first "Buddy Valastro" to graduate from high school.
Valastro grew the family bakery business into designer wedding cakes that were featured in bridal magazines. Through that exposure he was asked to compete in four Food Network Challenge cake competitions. After losing his first three battles, he took the top prize of $10,000 on "battle of the brides". He then pitched a reality show about life at Carlo's, where he worked with his mother, sister and various in-laws and cousins. TLC picked up the show in 2009.
In 2010 he authored his first book, Cake Boss, Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia. He followed it up with other books, including, Baking with the Cake Boss: 100 of Buddy’s Best Recipes and Decorating Secrets, Cooking Italian with the Cake Boss: Family Favorites as Only Buddy Can Serve Them Up and Family Celebrations with the Cake Boss.
In January 2012, as a result of the attention that the shop and the TV series had brought to the city of Hoboken, the Hudson Reporter named Valastro as an honorable mention in its list of Hudson County's 50 most influential people. He was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2017 and was introduced by Yankees' pitcher Mariano Rivera. At the ceremony Valastro said, "I am damn proud to be from this state."
Carlo's Bakery once had seven locations in New Jersey: Hoboken, Marlton, Morristown, Red Bank, Ridgewood, Wayne, and Westfield. Only the Hoboken and Marlton locations are operating as of December 2023. There are also bakeries in New York City; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Uncasville, Connecticut; Orlando, Florida; Las Vegas; San Antonio, Texas, and Bloomington, Minnesota. There previously were stores in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Westbury, New York; The Woodlands, Texas, and São Paulo, Brazil. The Lackawanna Center in Jersey City, located less than a mile from the original Hoboken shop, serves as the corporate office for the business and is used as additional space to create wedding and specialty cakes, and to bake specialty baked goods for shipment across the country.