A new bakery appealing to Broadway lovers, Angelina Bakery, just opened its doors. NBC New York’s Jen Maxfield reports.

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A new bakery called Angelina at 52nd St. and Broadway opens this week and part of its profits go to The Actors Fund, whose president Joe Benincasa calls the new pastry proceeds “a sweet treat.”

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Big dreams such as a new 4,000 square foot, two-floor location come true for Tony Park, the owner of Angelina Bakery. 

Not only will it be a massive new location open on Dec. 1, but it will also be located at the boiling spot 1675 Broadway, right next to Times Square. 

“I used to race my skateboard up and down Broadway and then sit on the corner of 45thand Broadway and think about how many burgers I was going to sell one day. To now own a bakery in the center of the city, I can say my dreams have come true,” said Park.

In his bakery named after his daughter and Italian grandmother, Angelina Bakery servesItalian and Sicilian pastries with an Asian twist. Park created a better and healthier version of bombolone which includes less sugar and butter instead includes more water in it and ends up not different from a classic recipe, in his bakery bombolone is 600 calories when in traditional way of cooking it is usually over 1,000. 

The traditional breakfast menu offers croissants, tarts and a hybrid of a brioche and a croissant, called Brissant.  For lunch the bakery presents three different styles of Italian pizza making – Romana (crunchy dough), Neapolitan (burnt finish) and Sicilian (crumby breading). And of course different kinds of pasta, lasagna and appetizers. 

For dessert, guests can try Gelato and cremolato(a mixture of granita and gelato). In traditional Italian flavors such as blood red orange, amarena (cherry), mandorla (almond), casata siciliana, watermelon, fig, licorice, ricotta and honey. 

In addition to those who want to try something else, Park innovatively created a Ciao Boba tea. It is a yogurt panna cotta drink with fruit frappe and yogurt panna cotta with Pistachio Boba. 

And only in the Time Square location will be also offered a gold luxury dessert line composed of custom gold cakes, such as their gold chocolate fortune cookie cake with matcha ganache and white chocolate pearls. 

“I’m a New Yorker, a Korean and an Italian. I bring to Angelina Bakery the memories of my youth in the Vucciria market of Palermo, the Korean spirit of finding new ways to create food and the New Yorker mentality that you can make anything happen in this City,” adds Park.

On the opening weekend as a celebration, all customers will receive a free Bombolone upon purchase. Angelina Bakery has partnered with The Actors Fund to create a special Broadway Bombolone featuring their renowned motto, “I Heart the Arts” in colorful sugar. Available exclusively at Angelina Bakery’s new Times Square location starting Nov. 30, all sales of this special bombolone will be donated to this renowned organization that supports working professionals of the theatre and entertainment community. Joseph Benincasa, President and CEO of The Actors Fund called it a ‘sweet treat’, sweet in all meanings. 

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Angelina Bakery is marking its official expansion in New York City with the opening of a new flagship store in the heart of Manhattan and theatre district in Times Square. Known for its Asian-inspired Italian baked goods, such as the iconic bombolone, Angelina Bakery’s biggest location yet offers even more unique menu items and treats.

The new location is a 4,000 square foot structure built across two floors. The décor boasts Angelina Bakery’s Tiffany blue with added white and gold details and features a big open kitchen, visible to the street so onlookers on Broadway can peer in.

“Since I was a little boy, I always dreamed of owning a food establishment in Times Square,” says Antonio “Tony” Park, owner of Angelina Bakery. “Back then it was McDonalds. I used to race my skateboard up and down Broadway and then sit on the corner of 45th and Broadway and think about how many burgers I was going to sell one day. To now own a bakery in the center of the city, I can say my dreams have come true.”

To celebrate the opening, Angelina Bakery is giving all customers a free bombolone upon purchase during the opening weekend.

In addition, Angelina Bakery has partnered with The Actors Fund to create a special Broadway Bombolone featuring their renowned motto, “I Heart the Arts” in colorful sugar. Available exclusively at the Times Square location starting November 30, all sales of this special bombolone are donated to the organization that supports working professionals of the theatre and entertainment community.

“What a ‘sweet treat’ to be included in the opening of Angelina Bakery in Times Square,” says Joseph Benincasa, president and chief executive officer of The Actors Fund. “As Broadway theaters re-open their doors, The Actors Fund is here to support professionals in the performing arts community as they get back to work. And, we can’t wait for audiences to once again enjoy the magic of live theater—along with a Broadway Bombolone, of course!”

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With the upcoming expansion of three new locations, New York City’s Angelina Bakery looks to better serve its loyal customers.

Soon to be opening in Times Square, Herald Square and Williamsburg, the bakery has announced the launch of its official mobile app taking orders directly and offering exclusive deals and limited-time offers. Upon download, users will receive three 30 percent discount coupons and can earn points through ordering to get rewards. Extra features include daily deals and promotions and updates on seasonal menu items.

The Angelina Bakery Mobile App will allow busy New Yorkers to pre-order their breakfast, lunch and more quickly and efficiently with a user-friendly interface. The app will be available for free download starting Thursday, October 21 in the Apple Store, Google Play, Windows Store and Amazon Appstore.

Owner Tony Park, Italian-born but of Korean descent, brings a unique perspective to the pastry scene with Angelina Bakery – combining authentic Italian pastries with an Asian twist. Angelina’s famous Bombolone, an Italian donut, has been reimagined with an Asian-influenced recipe to be lighter with less sugar and butter but with more water and still has the same delicious taste. The Bombolone and Angelina’s other famous confection, the Brissant (brioche x croissant hybrid), are both available on the app for NYC locals and are also available nationwide on Goldbelly.

“I tried to take the best of all the countries I’m from – the artisanship of a Palermo bakery in the Vucciria (local market), the Korean-detailed attention to testing and finding the right balance between ingredients and the New Yorker philosophy of wanting an authentic breakfast and lunch, but often on the run,” says Park.

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New York City’s Angelina Bakery, which specializes in Italian treats, has introduced a cool treat to beat the summer heat, the Italian-inspired Gelato.

Inspired by the taste of Angelina Bakery’s other iconic treats, the thick and creamy Gelato is offered in flavors including chocolate, pistachio, hazelnut, lemon, yogurt and strawberry.

Angelina Bakery owner Tony Park, who is of Korean descent but was born in Palermo, Italy and raised from a young age by an Italian family, pays homage to his Italian grandmother, Giuliana “Anna”, who taught him how to cook and bake as well as his daughter, Angelina.

The bakery reflects the authentic Italian pastry of his youth, but with an Asian twist. The bombolone, an Italian donut, known to be on the heavier side featuring Bavarian cream is updated with a lighter Asian influenced recipe.

Angelina Bakery currently has two NYC locations, with a Times Square flagship set to open in the city this summer.

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Angelina Bakery in Midtown is opening three additional locations this year, owner Tony Park tells Eater. The cafe specializing in Italian-Asian pastry will open a Times Square flagship store in July, with locations in Williamsburg and Herald Square planned for October.

The pandemic has disrupted the food business across the U.S. but less so for bakeries than restaurants. But there’s also opportunity there. Take Angelina’s Bakery in New York City.

Once there were two Angelina’s Bakery in Manhattan, one in Hell’s Kitchen and the other near Central Park. Owner Tony Park shuttered the one near Central Park but has kept the Hell’s Kitchen outlet open.

But he’s opening three new Angelina’s Bakery in 2021, as the city continues rebounding from the pandemic. His new outposts will be located in Times Square, Herald Square, near Macy’s, and trendy Williamsburg in Brooklyn. 

He identified areas that were busy, have plenty of office workers, and attract tourists, whom he expects to be returning in droves.

Park, a New Yorker since 1998, expresses confidence in the city bouncing back from the pandemic. “I’ve seen New York go through 9/11 and the Lehman Brothers break-up. New York City will come back,” he exclaims.

“Now you can get real estate at better prices than before,” he said.

Park is capitalizing the three new bakeries with private money combined with bank loans. However, if he starts franchising in the future, he’ll tap private equity funding.

Park could be called a hyphenate because he’s a baker, chef, and runs a boutique brokerage firm PD Properties. He’s the rare baker/chef/real-estate broker.

He’s arranged his finances so that he can survive for a year and a half, without having to turn a profit. He’s negotiated special deals with landlords for reduced rent and concessions that he could never have secured pre-pandemic.

“I’m hoping to break even by end of the year, make a little profit by next summer and then start turning a profit,” he reveals.

The landlord on the Central Park site, which is only six blocks or so from his new Times Square location, was inflexible about making concessions, forcing him to relocate.

He expects that many office workers will come back, and “they want to eat grab and go and that’s where my bakeries fit in.”

Park is of Korean descent but was raised in Palermo, Italy by an Italian family. He studied pastry in Palermo, served as a pastry chef, moved to New York City where he managed several Italian eateries, and then developed a commercial real-estate business.

What also enabled him to expand Angelina’s Bakery (named after his daughter) was its thriving wholesale business. It sells to supermarkets and restaurants, which constitutes about 30% of its overall revenue compared to 70% for retail.

Angelina’s Bakery is known for its bombolone, an Italian donut, consisting of Bavarian cream, with reduced amounts of sugar and butter. But it also sells a bevy of other items including pizza, focaccia, and sandwiches that are a combination panini and ciabatta bread, and desserts such as tiramisu. He also trademarked Brissant, a cross between a brioche and croissant.

Park says the target audience that dines at Angelina’s Bakery consists of a “young crowd, Instagram people, plenty of tourists in Times Square including Europeans.”

The new Times Square location, which expects to open in August, is sizable, encompassing 4,000 square feet. It accommodates 60 people inside and 60 outside on a plaza. His previous Central Park outpost was only 600 square feet.

Unlike most restaurants these days, off-premises sales at Angelina’s are modest. Delivery and pick-up generate only 5% to 10% of revenue.

As a broker, he has also arranged leases for many of the Paris Baguette franchises in the city, which helped him learn what works and what doesn’t in bakery cafés. That franchise kept its leases down to $20,000 or less a month, which enabled it to stay profitable.

Maison Kayser, a French bakery café, signed leases for up to $40,000 a month, thought its brand would carry it to success, and eventually overbuilt. overpaid and folded.

Angelina’s Bakery is already filing its documents to get franchising off the ground soon. He says its bakery concept is simple, easily duplicated, and employees can be trained in a day or two on how to make the sandwiches and breads. 

Park says the keys to the future success and expansion of Angelina’s Bakery are: 1) finding the right locations, 2) attracting franchisees in the future who have $300,000 to $400,000 to invest and want to work hard, 3) luck, that the pandemic continues to fade away.

The owner, Antonio Park, who is from Sicily, will open in Times Square in July and in Herald Square and Williamsburg, Brooklyn in the fall.

Bombolini overflowing with Nutella and the croissant-esque cornetti are some of the baked goods made fresh daily at this new Italian bakery in midtown. In addition to pastries, the bakery has lunch options like four-cheese focaccia, sandwiches and pizza, whole cakes and a coffee program. Now open daily from 7 a.m.-10 p.m.; 575 Eighth Ave., 917-261-4534, angelinabakery.com