Carlucci’s Bakery
“I knew I had to come home. Salt Lake City is where my roots are, and it’s where I wanted to build something of my own.” Therese Martin, owner of Carlucci’s Bakery, has spent the last twenty-three years creating a beloved neighborhood spot in Salt Lake. Born and raised in the city, Therese ventured out a few times - working at a charming French restaurant on Martha’s Vineyard and exploring New Hampshire - but she always found her way back to her hometown. In 2001, when an opportunity arose to join forces with Tony Caputo’s market, she embraced it wholeheartedly. "This little corner is the best thing that has happened to me."
“My uncle, Chris Hase, was one of the partners in Tony Caputo’s, and they had this idea to open a bakery, fish market, and produce stand all under one roof,” Therese recalls. “It was such a great concept, and I was on board from the start.” The bakery became the heart of the project, with Therese taking the front space of the building, filling it with her vision of what a bakery should be: warm, welcoming, and full of delicious, handcrafted pastries. Without a doubt, it is her warmth and loving personality that has kept people coming back for some two decades. She is Carlucci's.
Therese's love for baking is something that runs deep in her family. “My mom made pastries, my grandfather was a chef, and my uncle owns a restaurant - it’s in my blood,” she shares. After years of working in high-end restaurants around Salt Lake, including rising to the position of pastry chef, it was clear that baking was more than a job for her - it was her calling.
At Carlucci’s Bakery, the focus is on pastry, though the café also offers breakfast and lunch items including an egg sandwich on a croissant, a burrito and quiche. Therese’s pastries have become a staple in the neighborhood, with items like fruit tarts, black and white cookies, and her famous carrot cake flying off the shelves daily. “We do a lot of wholesale baking for other local spots but most of what we make is sold right here in the shop.”
The bakery is powered by a sixty-year-old rotating deck oven that Therese found in Midvale and had transported to its new home at Carlucci’s. It is an essential part of the daily rhythm at the bakery, filling the space with the scent of fresh bread and pastries as the team adds sheet pan after sheet pan into the oven multiple times a day.
In addition to her pastries, Therese is known for her soups, which she often makes from seasonal ingredients sourced from local farmers. “We’re kind of known for our soups,” she says, smiling. “I like to visit the farmer’s market and let the ingredients inspire me - like this week, the peppers were so fresh, I had to make a chicken and pepper soup.
Community is at the heart of everything Therese does. From sourcing ingredients locally to building relationships with her customers, she is committed to supporting Salt Lake’s small business network. “It’s important to me to buy from people like John Borski, who’s an organic farmer, and to know my clientele and my staff. I’ve been lucky - people stick around, and I’ve had employees with me for a long time.” It is Therese, however, along with one other baker, who are in the kitchen everyday baking. "We've gotten it down to a science, allowing us to have a broad offering throughout the year, especially during the holidays.
As Carlucci’s Bakery continues to serve Salt Lake’s neighborhood, Therese reflects on the changing community around her. “It was so different twenty years ago with artists living and working in the area. Nevertheless, Therese adores the new neighborhood as much as she loved the old one. She genuinely expressed how lucky she feels to be a part of this neighborhood. In the end, Therese feels she is here because she loves what she does. “Baking is in my family, in my heart, and after all these years, it still feels good to share that with everyone who surrounds me."
