New Orleans King Cakes Come to 1-800-Bakery.com

1-800-Bakery.com is helping a bakery flooded by Hurricane Katrina rebuild its business by offering Randazzo's New Orleans King Cakes to its online customers.

WINCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS (PRWEB) February 8, 2006 -- If you can't make it to New Orleans for Carnival this year, you can still enjoy a taste of the celebration—and help a New Orleans bakery recover.

1-800-Bakery.com, a leading online baked-goods retailer, has partnered with Randazzo's Camellia City Bakery in Slidell, Louisiana, to bring genuine New Orleans King Cakes to customers across America. "I'm thrilled to bring this beloved piece of Carnival to our customers," said Stephen Pazyra, founder of 1-800-Bakery.com, "but it's been a bumpy road."

Pazyra and Tricia Zornes, the owner of Randazzo's, first agreed on the partnership in late summer 2005. Then Hurricane Katrina hit, dealing a potentially fatal blow to Randazzo's Camellia City Bakery, which had served New Orleans for four decades.

"We had four feet of water in our building," Zornes said. Zornes decided to rebuild, hoping to encourage other local businesses to do the same. After a major cleanup that included replacing most of their equipment, Randazzo's was back up and running in early January, and the partnership could go forward.

"I created this site to help local bakeries reach a national audience," Pazyra said. "Randazzo's is a perfect example of the type of bakery I want to help succeed. They've got an outstanding reputation in New Orleans, and 1-800-Bakery.com can help raise the awareness and sales they need to get back on track."

During the 2005 season, Randazzo's sold 25,000 King Cakes, a number that Zornes hopes to double this year. King Cakes are a traditional part of Mardi Gras and Carnival celebrations. The oval-shaped cake resembles a crown and is decorated with purple, green, and gold, representing the colors worn by the Three Wise Men when they visited Bethlehem. Each cake has a small toy baby baked inside, and tradition says that whoever gets the prize has to supply the King Cake for next year's party.

Founded in 2004, 1-800-Bakery.com is a leading online retailer of cakes, cookies, confections, and pastries from award-winning specialty bakeries across America.

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