Classic Bakery one of few small shops left

The Rovnak family has long-time Valley ties and baking in its blood.
By AMANDA C. DAVIS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- It's barely 5 a.m. on a Friday, and Paul Rovnak is already elbow-deep in butter cream icing.
How many of us can say that? Turns out, not very many.
Rovnak is something of a dying breed. The owner of Classic Bakery on Tiffany Boulevard said independent and family-owned bakeries are finding it increasingly difficult to compete.
Customers today have so many choices when it comes to buying baked goods -- Dunkin Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Panera Bread, supermarkets and even gas stations.
But Rovnak explained that most chains and in-store bakeries use pre-mixed this and that; cakes, cookies and Danish are often shipped in frozen.
"Everything here is fresh and first-rate," he said.
Early start
The work day often starts at 1 a.m. Because there is very little prep work done ahead of time, Rovnak said his team spend the early hours hand-mixing batters and frosting, hand-filling each pastry and decorating each cake before most people have had their first cup of coffee.
Rovnak and his employees yell measurements and ingredients back and forth for the cookies, cakes, pies, breads, rolls and pastries. In a typical week, the shop goes through about 900 to 1,000 pounds of sugar and about 300 pounds of eggs.
Rovnak calls his operation "very labor intensive," so it's no wonder he and his employees are so light on their feet and surprisingly fit, given most have worked in this industry for years.
He admits being tempted by his own creations -- usually a bear claw -- but says he works it off quickly while in the shop. "We're on our feet the whole time," he said.
Rovnak, of Poland, usually gets up at midnight or 12:30 a.m. to get ready for work and goes to bed between 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. He has little spare time, but enjoys golf and occasionally travels somewhere warm in January when the store is closed for a week.
Family line
For Rovnak, his family and employees, it seems that baking is in the blood.
At one time, his father, Paul, had three bakeries in the Mahoning Valley, including Mr. Paul's, which closed in 1998 because of soaring overhead costs that ate into profits. Up until a few years ago, his father operated Hermitage Bakery in Hermitage, Pa., and today helps his son bake four days a week.
"He'll never stop working," the younger Rovnak said.
His mother, Rose, also works at the shop, usually at the counter or making icing. She learned the business from her dad, Pete Pechkurow, who had two bakeries in the area.
"You get to the point where you grow up with it and it's the only thing you know how to do," she said. "It has its challenges, but I still enjoy it."
The younger Rovnak said many of Mr. Paul's customers and a few employees followed him when he opened Classic Bakery in February 2000, including Charlotte Nalepa, who makes doughnuts, waits on customers and hand-mixes icing in a warmer.
A customer, Nancy Paparodis of Boardman, stopped in to pick up baked goods for her uncle, Ray Hahn, of Youngstown, whom she cares for.
Holiday baking
"[Classic Bakery] has taken care of my family and the holidays for the last few years," she said. "There's no time to bake."
Take cookies like clothespins and pecan tarts, for example. "Unless someone's grandmother makes them at home, you really can't find them anywhere," Rovnak said, adding that between 5,000 to 7,000 clothespins sell the week before Christmas -- a week that Rovnak and staff usually put in about 95 hours.
Jim Rastetter, a baker working for Rovnak, used to own Rastetter's Bakery in Alliance but closed it in 2004. "I tried to sell insurance for awhile," he said. "I couldn't just sit there everyday."
Employee Priscilla Gorman moved to the area recently after losing her home in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. She began working at the bakery in June and said she never baked anything before that.
"I make homemade everything now, except for bread," she said, explaining the best part of her job is the variety it allows each day.
Baker Tony Arroyo, who's worked in the industry most of his life, said the Youngstown area used to have several full-service bakeries, a number that has dwindled to fewer than 10.
Asked if he still enjoys the early mornings and hard work, Arroyo, who is nicknamed "Elvis," laughed and said, "I'm still trying to figure that out after 30 years."
Classic Bakery is closed Mondays, when Rovnak usually does paperwork and ordering.