Buffalo’s Finest Stored Presents Scrumptious Treats and A number of the Finest Structure within the Metropolis

Considered one of Buffalo’s oldest and most beloved sweet shops got here below new possession within the Nineteen Eighties virtually by chance. Proprietor Phil Buffamonte and his brother Ron made a leap of religion to take over the historic Parkside Sweet Shoppe house on a fateful day, and because of their dedication, the landmark celebrates greater than 100 years in enterprise. 

Parkside Sweet opened in 1919 by George Kaiser and his spouse whose lifelong dream was to function a neighborhood sweet store. Enterprise was so profitable the couple expanded to a model new constructing in 1927 designed by native architect Morton Woolfe, the identical constructing the place Parkside Sweet resides right now. The corporate remained below its unique possession till Kaiser’s passing, when it was listed on the market and bought by the Buffamontes. 

Prior to buying the historic sweet shoppe, the Buffamonte household started their foray into the sweet world in 1974 as a way to make some fast money as two school college students. The brothers bought wholesale chocolate which they repackaged and bought at retailers in Snyder, NY throughout key holidays, particularly Easter. Although it was meant to all the time be a aspect hustle, an indication in a window led them to changing into full-time enterprise homeowners of one of many state’s oldest sweet retailers after seeing a on the market signal.

“My brother referred to as me, and he was so excited, it felt like destiny that he was driving by and noticed the signal. I used to be hesitant about it, I used to be educating and in grad college. My brother is extra of the concept man, and I’m extra the finance man, so I did some analysis on it, and talked to a few banks to study in regards to the financing. We have been fortunate to get an SBA mortgage to take over, and that was that,” mentioned Buffamonte. 

The shop got here with the entire unique machines, some relics from the start of the sweet retailer within the early 1900s. It included vacuum cookers for lollipops, a nationwide starch machine used for the casting of lotions, caramels and truffles, and an 18’ greer enrober used to coat chocolate candies and a 60’ enrober to chill the candies.

“Once we took over it was very difficult as a result of we needed to study to work the machines and there weren’t any recipes left behind on the way to make candies at that degree of quantity, so it was a variety of trial and error,” mentioned Buffamonte. 

Studying the artwork of sponge sweet proved essentially the most troublesome. Sponge sweet is a regional product beloved by the Western New York group, with a novel honeycomb texture created by including baking soda to the sugar and corn syrup mix to create the ethereal and bubbly consistency. 

The onerous work – and plenty of not so good batches of sweet – paid off for the brothers. The store is open 12 months spherical serving ice cream and sweet, with a majority of their gross sales going to Buffalo expats throughout the nation in addition to distributing to different sweet shops, particularly their quaint lollipops. 

The dimensions of the sweet manufacturing facility is spectacular, boasting 25,000 sq. toes of manufacturing house, six 300-lb chocolate melters and a machine that may wrap 80 items of sweet per minute. The manufacturing facility creates all the pieces from truffles to nut clusters, 24 completely different flavors of quaint lollipops, molded chocolate items and even salt water taffy. The sponge sweet stays their prime vendor, creating a formidable 400 kilos of it on daily basis.

“In Western New York, like Buffalo and Rochester, individuals assume it’s the best factor, however outdoors the realm, individuals assume it’s simply one other piece of sweet,” mentioned Buffamonte.

Parkside Sweet is listed as an historic landmark each in New York State and nationally. The brothers accomplished a number of restorations through the years to return the store to its unique grandeur, and most of the unique items are intact together with the lighting, sweet circumstances and the soda fountain. 

“It was initially a problem, and it nonetheless is a problem, nevertheless it’s good to see one thing that you simply constructed proceed to be a profitable operation,” mentioned Buffamonte.

Parkside Sweet is out there in North Buffalo and shoppers can even buy gadgets on-line for delivery, particularly treats for Mom’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Christmas and naturally Easter, or seize some at retail shops in Kenmore, Amherst and Cheektowaga.