Landmark Middlesex County bakery to reopen Sunday

JAMESBURG — Devoted customers call it a Christmas miracle: Mendokers Quality Bakery is reopening.

The 84-year-old Jamesburg bakery, which "permanently" closed in October for unspecified reasons, posted on its Facebook page that it will reopen 7 a.m. Sunday morning.

“We have done everything in our power to keep our ovens hot and our handcrafted items on the shelf, but have become burdened with too many setbacks that we cannot overcome. We will not let our quality suffer for any reason," the bakery posted on its Facebook page at the time of its closure.

But the sweet smells of baked treats will once again fill the neighborhood air. There's no indication if any of the items offered by the bakery, which also included ice cream and deli items, have changed.

"We took the time off to bring in a professional management team to increase quality and provide higher quality service. I will remain as always head Baker and I will put our family recipes to good use," owner Ed Mendoker said on the bakery's Facebook page.

Mendoker acknowledged posting "hints" all week on the page, including video of dough being mixed and several pictures of a thermostat with a rising temperature each day. He also posted a picture of the bakery's original Petersen brick oven and smoke coming out of a chimney.

The phone at the bakery went unanswered on Saturday morning.

Customers were happy to hear of the bakery on West Railroad Avenue's reopening.

"Yay!!!! Such great news!! This area needs you!" Jennifer Calabria Saldarini commented.

"Wow that's so great I love this bakery so much when we were kids mom and dad use to bring us there every Sunday after church so happy they are reopening," commented Bonnie Antonucci.

According to the bakery’s website, the store opened in 1932 and was built brick-by-brick in five days. Mendoker’s once had six stores and expanded its current location in 1985.

Mendoker’s earned the National Bakery of the Year award from Bakery Magazine in 1989.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com.

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