Rao’s Bakery co-owner Josh Tortorice displays the Charlotte, one of Rao’s most popular cakes.[/caption]
It was the community lifestyle and diversity of cultures that led the Beaumont-based Rao’s Bakery to open in Spring, co-owner Josh Tortorice said.
After a decade in the area, the community around its Cypresswood Drive location still reminds the Tortorice family of the neighborhood of the original Rao’s.
“We wanted to open a location in Houston, and we looked all over for probably a year to a year and a half,” said Josh, who is the son of principal owners, Jake and Mary Tortorice. “We just felt like this area felt like home to us. It felt very community-centric. The people here, there’s a lot churchgoing people, and there’s a big mixture of cultures. It just made sense.”
Rao’s resigned its interior just in time for its 10th anniversary—April 1—bringing back the original chair-and-table design and shifting some of its furniture and cash registers around to improve its spacing, Josh said.
“We’ve just almost completed a remodel, and if you’ve been in here before, you would feel like you’re in a new building,” he said. “We’ve completely redone the whole place. Everything—it feels like—has changed. We’re 10 years old, and we want to reinvent ourselves. We want to keep improving and staying ahead of the curve.”
The menu at Rao’s, however, will remain familiar to longtime and regular guests.
Customers can purchase custom special-event cakes for birthdays, baby showers or work functions. Rao’s also has a large selection of signature cakes, such as turtle fudge, tres leches and red velvet in addition to pies, cookies and cheesecakes. The Mardi Gras-style King Cake is a seasonal favorite along with several flavors of Italian ice cream, also known as gelato, Josh said.
Many customers who enter Rao’s purchase cups of coffee or muffins, Josh said. He estimates the Champions-area restaurant sells 150 of each per day. The sandwiches, panini and salads round out the menu.
“We really cover a lot of areas with our deli, our breakfast pastries, our coffees, our cakes [and] our Italian ice creams,” he said. “We try and offer something for individuals and groups. We’ll have birthday parties here, where the kids get to go in the kitchen for 45 minutes and decorate some food, and we have coffee catering, where we’ll go out to offices and serve our coffee.”
Muffins and a cup of coffee are some of Rao’s most popularly ordered items together.[/caption]
Rao’s expanded from its initial location—a tiny bakery in Beaumont that opened in 1941—to now having five locations in Spring, Beaumont and Nederland. The original location was founded by Johnny Rao, who became a success because of the popularity of his well-known wedding cakes, Josh said.
The Tortorice family purchased Rao’s in 1998 and has added four locations in the 18 years since. Josh said the family is interested in further Houston expansion if a hands-on business partner becomes available.
Whatever future presents itself for Rao’s, Josh said he still expects to help provide good memories for his customers.
“People love sweets and coffee—we can’t survive without coffee,” Josh said. “When you think of Rao’s, those people that know us think of birthdays [and] events; [it’s] just kind of nostalgic. The company was founded in 1941, so we’ve done so many special events, anniversaries, weddings and birthdays. There’s just a lot of history there.”
6915 Cypresswood Drive, Ste. F, Spring 281-251-7267 www.raosbakery.com Hours: Mon.-Thu. 6 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 6 a.m.-10:30 p.m., Sun. 7 a.m.-8 p.m.
