Corner Bakery: Sandwiches, Salads, Sweets, Catering and a great love for community

Corner Bakery Cafe (http://www.cornerbakery.com/), which is part of Il Fornaio Restaurant Corp (spun off from Brinker in 2006), is a fast casual restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner to guests in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, El Paso, Houston, Jackson, Miss., Los Angeles/Orange County, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Diego, and Washington D.C. and offers Free Wifi which brings a great warmth to their environment.  Joe Digangi is one of the manager's for the organization and has been in the food business since 1991 when he got his start at Fuddrucker's and worked as a line cook, butcher, cashier and baker. His journey took him to other restaurants and then he finally got his degree in economics and finance and has landed as a very high level manager.

All of the products and ingredients are sourced from the main office in Dallas. They also do offer local produce and have done promotions where they offer a sandwich like a Bacon Bacon Local Tomatoes and source the tomatoes from local growers and farmers.

They are in complete growth mode and have been affected by the economy, however, the company is in functioning in a positive sales mode and growing every day.

They have great employees and are always searching for people who are very hard working and can connect with suburban guests. They look at people with all different types of experiences.

For six months every year, they have a window where they change up their menu items and offer alot of different variety.

Their approach to their catering is much more professional than their competitors. Their employees are in a uniform and they travel in a  refrigerated truck when the platters of food are delivered to the clients. They offer great value for their portions. They also offer ALOT of different options that are very healthy and calorie conscious.

The company is very involved in community events and it's a wonderful way for them to market  their products and goods.  They have donated bottled water and food to various events such as a walk or run for charity.  It's a win win opportunity where they help other community organizations but also market their brand in order to build their own business. They also have had sweet baskets delivered for teachers and offer opportunities  to treat the teachers and their friends. They have also delivered their bottled water to local health clubs and wellness facilities. They really do give back to the community around them and have become apart of their community.

I had the pleasure of sampling the chopped salad which was so fresh and came in a very plentiful size. The cheese, bacon, chicken and vegetables were really crisp. I also sampled the Chicken Pesto Sandwich which had chicken right off the bird and tomatoes that came right out of the garden. To make it complete, I also had a cheesecake brownie which not as dense as you would think. It was really moist and the cheesecake portion on top was put together in a very delicate manner. The chocolate was of a really high quality.

I really recommend Corner Bakery for your next salad, sandwich, sweet or catering stop!!!!!

To Locate a Corner Bakery near you
http://www.cornerbakerycafe.com/Locations.aspx

Corner Bakery: Main Home Page
http://www.cornerbakery.com/

Jolane's Cafe

Jolane's Cafe, located in Glenview, IL offers wonderful soups, salads, sandwiches and Julius Meinl pastries. It's very quaint with a varied customer base that adds to its charm.

Jolane's Cafe

1100 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Glenview, IL

Telephone: 847.375.6986
http://www.jolanescafe.com/

Einstein Brothers Bagels

Einstein Brothers is Corporate America's shining gem of a wonderful bagel, lunch, coffee and catering destination. They are not only producing wonderful products but they serve it with gracious, swift and friendly service and treat their employees like family.

Below is the history that we pulled from their website to share with you. After the history is the contined glowing review that we gathered for Einstein Brothers Bagels.

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History
Rising to the Challenge


In our early years, we operated and franchised specialty coffee cafés in the northeastern United States under the brand names of New World Coffee (New World) and Willoughby's Coffee and Tea (Willoughby's). In addition to coffee, we also served fresh, high quality gourmet foods and pastries. Our business strategy in those years was to be a franchisor and grow through acquisitions. With the acquisition of Manhattan Bagel Company, Inc. (Manhattan) in 1998 and Chesapeake Bagel Bakery (Chesapeake) in 1999, we became a significant franchisor of bagel restaurants and, to a lesser extent, of coffee cafés. In 2001, our strategy evolved to include company-operated restaurants as well as franchised and licensed locations as we completed the acquisition of substantially all of the assets (the Einstein Acquisition) of Einstein/Noah Bagel Corp. (ENBC) and its majority-owned subsidiary, Einstein/Noah Bagel Partners, L.P., which operated 2 brands: Einstein Bros. Bagels (Einstein Bros.) and Noah's New York Bagels (Noah's).
The Einstein Acquisition in 2001 was accomplished by issuing a substantial amount of short-term debt and mandatorily redeemable preferred equity, which have since been refinanced and restructured.

Office Talk
Our principal office is located in Golden, Colorado.

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We were able to chat with Ryan who is the Manager of the Glenview, Il location and is very experienced in the food business. Ryan came from the Rock Bottom Restaurant Group and was interested in this position because the hours fit his schedule with a new baby at home and Einstein Brothers is very accomodating of their employees and the life that they have outside of work.

Their products and ingredients that are used  are freshly sourced and hand picked for their customers. They are able to stay ahead of their competition because they are innovative with their menu, offer lunch and also have catering services that are available.

The food is kept fresh and clean with good refrigerators and a truck that comes three times a week with great new product.

The future of Einstein Brothers is to grow the business and become the largest fast casual restaurant empire in the country and world.

I was able to sample a wonderful Spinach Bagel with a melted cheese and garlic cream cheese, a apple pecan coffee cake, a plain bagel with strawberry cream cheese and a dutch apple bagel with plain cream cheese which was just delightful. All of these delights were very moist, the bagels were well put together, tender and the cream cheeses were very authentic.

Einstein Brothers is one of Corporate America's shining examples of what it is to be good to the customer and the employees with the ability to still make money!!! Every corporation should replicate this model of capitalism.

Papagalino Bakery Niles, IL

Papagalino is Chicago's premier Greek pastry shop and offers all of the  wonderful European pastries. The beautiful cases are filled with all of the wonderful Greek cookies and are complimented by a variety of other European selections. The other cases are just filled with wonderful cakes, truffles and other wonderful selections like Spanakopita (spinach pies) and Tyropita (cheese pies).

Sotiri, who is the owner, also makes mini versions of his delights for parties and sweet tables. They need some notice in order to create their wonderful platters.

This bakery is truly one of Chicago's and the North Shore's absolute gems. You won't be disappointed!!!


Papagalino Bakery:
9014 South Milwaukee Avenue
Niles, IL 60714-1537
847-803-9260