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Williamsburg’s beloved Setepani’s Bakery (602 Lorimer St.) is about to turn 30, and the Setepani family is inviting the entire neighborhood to celebrate with them.
Setepani’s 30th birthday party, complete with great food, drinks and music, will be held on October 23rd from noon – 3pm at 602 Lorimer Street.
Setepani Bakery is a family-owned business with delicious Italian bread, cakes, pastries, desserts and year-round panettone, which takes four days to make. In Italian, the word setpani translates to “seven loaves”, which is inevitably a family business.
The Settepani brand is backed by Chef Nino Settepani, who has been part of the restaurant business for 46 years. Nino’s parents immigrated to America from Italy when he was 14 years old. After settling in New York, Setepanis found a bakery in the Village area of Manhattan and the family business was born.
However, Nino initially did not want to work in a bakery. After attending NYU, Nino interned at a bank in Greenpoint, but didn’t care for the business. After that, he was very excited to join the family in the bakery.
The Brooklyn location of Setepani’s Bakery opened 30 years ago. The bakery’s wholesale business was expanding and needed more physical space. Nino chose the Williamsburg neighborhood because it’s where he lives and wants to be close to a grocery store.
said Nino’s daughter, Bilena Setetepani. Green indicators“We survived wholesale for a long time, and we had many vans delivering pastries to hospitals, universities and other large customers in the city.
Then, of course, the epidemic crippled business for Setepani, as it did for so many others. “We lost 90% of our jobs instantly because hotels and restaurants went out of business,” Bilena explained.
Before the epidemic, Bilena, who worked in fashion, quit her job to help her family at the Setepani bakery. She now helps with a little bit of everything, mostly with the market, but also as a baker. “The bakery is like my big brother, and I could not imagine life without it,” Bilena said.
At the time of the outbreak, Bilena said, Setepani’s family received letters and emails confirming what the bakery and the family meant to the neighbors.
The epidemic was not only hard on business, but it was hard on the Setepani family on a personal level. First, Billena’s mother, Leah Abraham, was diagnosed with cancer three days before New York closed. Then Bilena’s grandfather and Nino’s mother, Felipe Cettepani, passed away.
“He was the face of the bakery” and “made the place special,” says Bilena Filipe. She explains that the bakery used to have a magical feeling and that feeling disappeared after her grandfather passed.
Bilena desperately wanted to bring back the magic and began working on small projects like painting walls and removing malfunctioning lights. She covered the exterior walls with artificial flowers and ivy. “It made the whole place more beautiful and more fun,” says Bilena.
Bilena Williamsburg knows a lot has changed in the past 30 years. The new customers in the area are very different from the previous situation, and Setepani believes that in order to succeed, they must appeal to the new neighborhood. “We have to get people in the door,” she said. “Wholesale is back, but we also need foot traffic.”
After the 30th anniversary celebration, Bilena said locals look forward to fun and engaging activities like cooking or holiday decorating classes.
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