Holy Cannoli!
It would have been an appropriate expression, something said under pressure as the bakers at the newly opened Holy Cannoli's in downtown Rochester worked to keep up with demand for thousands of the little Italian pastries that were selling like hot cakes in the days leading up to Easter.
It was the debut holiday for Holy Cannoli's, a bambino of a family business that made the leap from farmers markets, festivals and private events to full-blown store at 415 S. Main St.
Holy Cannoli's "soft opening" over the Easter week - really a trial by fire - was preparation for the official grand opening still to be set. The family - wives, husbands, children, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends - were so busy making thousands of cannolis, which come in a variety of flavors, there was never time to have the new equipment delivered.
They improvised, turning out their orders without the new oven and other equipment.
Franey owns and runs the store with her sister, Christina Granger, mom, Cathy Schulte and grandmother Sharon Beheler, who also owns an antique store in Washington Township, about four miles outside downtown Rochester.
Franey left her full-time job last week to devote herself full-time to the business and its handmade, traditional cannolis made from a recipe that goes back five generations in the Pino family, which has bonded for decades while sitting around table, each person having their part in the making of the cream-filled, deep-friend sweet.
It was pretty much that scene in a downtown Rochester retail space that played out last week before Easter, Franey says. It's all been a whirlwind for the family that only turned the family tradition in to the beginnings of a business in January 2010.
"You do what you have to do," Franey says, laughing. "It was crazy, but we did it."
Source: Nicole Franey, co-owner, Holy Cannoli's
Writer: Kim North Shine
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