D'Auito's Bakery to Close Sunday After Nearly 80 Years


A reader informed me that D'Aiuto's, the bakery on Eighth Avenue and 30th Street that has been open since 1924, and is know for its cheesecake, will close its doors for good on Sunday, Aug. 11. This, directly from members of the staff. 

This demise doesn't come completely as a surprise. A couple years ago, signs advertised the D'Aiuto building as being for sale "by owner."

D'Aiuto's was one of those New York institutions that soldiered on year after years without garnering too much attention. It's claim as having "The Best Cheesecake on Earth" probably inspired more head-scratching than nods of agreement.

The store was founded by Luca and Anna D'Aiuto, Italian immigrants. Their original bakery was on 25th Street. Their son Mario took over in the 1970s. He's the guy who started promoting the "Baby Watson" cheesecake. The name was based on a picture of himself as baby. (Watson was easier for customers to understand than Mario, apparently.)

In the 1970s, Aiuto's had five storefronts (the flagship was at 8th Avenue and 52nd Street) and a franchise in Boston. By the end of the century, the company's long, slow demise began. According to Capital New York, "Under Mario's stewardship, the business hit $20 million a year, but in 1998, D’Aiuto sold the name 'Baby Watson' to New Jersey-based Mother’s Kitchen, one of the largest cheesecake manufacturers in the industry. Then, around 2006, Mario’s health began a slow decline. The bakery warehouse and most of the storefronts had closed, leaving only the 8th Avenue and 30th Street location. Mario’s wife, whose career at one point was managing nightclubs in Manhattan, took over the business for a few years, but struggled to take care of both Mario and the store."

Eventually, with declining fortunes, the building was put up for sale. The business and building was apparently bought by one Ajay Patel in 2012, who was born in Nairobi and grew up in India and England. He took over D’Aiuto’s, promising to keep the business as is. 

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