Mayor Gary Christenson joined former Malden Mayor Richard Howard, employees, and multiple generations of the Piantedosi family for a cookout last month marking Piantedosi Baking Co.'s 110th year in business, an occasion the City of Malden marked with an official announcement. According to the Malden Patch's coverage of the event, Christenson presented the family with a city citation recognizing the milestone and commended the company for its decades as a Malden community partner. Joe Piantedosi, the company's executive vice president and co-owner, hosted the celebration.

The company's roots go back to 1916, when Salvatore Piantedosi, an immigrant from Avellino, Italy, started a bread route — buying fresh bread from bakers in Boston's North End and delivering it by horse and wagon to customers in Everett, later adding pasta to his rounds. According to Piantedosi's own company history, he became known as the "Midnight Baker" for delivering at all hours, building the business alongside his wife, Mary. The couple eventually built a bakery of their own on Main Street in Everett, next door to their home.

Their sons — Carmine, Joseph, and John — joined the business as children, working before and after school as the company passed to its second generation. Urban renewal forced a move to a larger Everett facility in the 1950s, and as demand shifted away from pastries and toward fresh bread through the 1970s, the company doubled down on what would become its signature product. By the mid-1970s, Piantedosi had outgrown Everett entirely, relocating to a larger manufacturing plant at 240 Commercial Street in Malden — the same address it operates from today — as the third generation stepped into leadership.

Growth continued through the 1980s and '90s: the company entered the frozen foods market, and in 1995 opened a Specialty Division focused on par-baked products, which also became home to its Research and Development department. The business marked its 100th anniversary in 2016. Today, per the Malden Patch's coverage of last month's celebration, the company is run by members of its third and fourth generations, with younger family members having worked their way through production, distribution, sales, and R&D roles before taking on leadership responsibilities.

Piantedosi produces hearth and pan-style bread — French bread, sub and burger rolls, dinner rolls, baguettes, and more — supplying restaurants, sandwich shops, cafes, supermarkets, and national chains across New England from its Malden facility, which also houses an on-site outlet store.

A few things remain unconfirmed or are noted for transparency. Reliable employee-count figures weren't available — third-party business-data sites list wildly inconsistent numbers, none from a primary source, so no figure is included here. Beyond Joe Piantedosi's role as co-owner, the company's full ownership structure among family members wasn't independently confirmed. And no photograph, including the city's own anniversary photo, has been sourced or used in this draft; using it would require separate permission from the City of Malden.