It’s become a family tradition.
The International Bakery of Waterbury has been providing authentic Portuguese breads and sweets to customers for 35 years.
Shawn Teixeira, 36, recently took over the bakery from his parents, Joe and Paula Teixeira, and is continuing the family tradition he said started with his grandfather 70 years ago in Portugal.
The bakery recently received a makeover with new flooring and display cases, which were the originals from 35 years ago, and held a grand reopening this past week, which included a ribbon cutting with Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski.
Shawn Teixeira said the contrast is obvious from the before and after photos.
“It was starting to get really rundown and now it just looks like a bakery again. The lights weren’t working on the other cases and now it’s nice and bright again,” Shawn Teixeira said.
The business has new shelving for the groceries and a new freezer for frozen sardines and other Portuguese products.
Where the Portuguese rolls are used about 50 businesses in the Greater Waterbury area, Shawn Teixeira said the bakery’s trademark product is the Portuguese custard cups, also known as pastéis de nata. Those are made with his grandfather’s original recipe.
“Come check out the best custard cups this side of the Atlantic,” Shawn Teixeira said. “They are that good.”
Shawn Teixeira said he’s expanded the variety in recent years. The original is a flaky pastry with a creamy custard. Other flavors added over the last seven years include Nutella, Pina Colada, chocolate raspberry, lemon blueberry, pumpkin spice, apple caramel, peanut butter cup and passion fruit.
“We have people that come in and grab one of two for their breakfast in the morning,” Shawn Teixeira said. “We have weddings or parties, and they will order up to 20 dozen for their centerpiece desserts.”
Shawn Teixeira said he also makes small cheesecakes, eclairs, Italian and French Napoleans as well as fried dough, among other baked goods. During the holiday season, the bakery makes king’s bread, and around Easter he makes the traditional sweet bread.
Shawn Teixeira’s grandfather José Luís Nunes Cabral opened the families first bakery in 1955 in Portugal. He said the family came to the U.S. in 1978, and Cabral joined the Pittsfield Rye Company in Massachusetts. In 1983, the family owned the International Bakery in Danbury before opening the Waterbury location seven years later. The Danbury location remains open on East Liberty Street and is owned by the Rocha family.
Shawn Teixeira said his father started working for his grandfather in Danbury many years ago and that’s how he met his wife Paula. Although his parents are “semi-retired,” Shawn Teixeira said they remain “very much involved,” with his dad baking every day he’s not in Portugal.
The International Bakery of Waterbury’s Portuguese rolls at the bakery on Baldwin Street. (Courtesy of Shawn Teixeira)
Teixeira said about 40% of his customer base is Portuguese, however Italians, Albanians and Hispanics are regulars at his business. He said on Sunday mornings before and after church, it’s mainly Portuguese families who visit during that time from Waterbury and nearby Naugatuck and Prospect.
“A lot of people on Sunday have a standing order,” Shawn Teixeira said. “I’ve seen kids grown up coming in. They would come in when they were born and now, they are 11 or 12. If you are Portuguese, on Sunday’s you go to church and you have lunch with the family. And of course you have to have bread on the table. You can’t have a Portuguese lunch without bread on the table.”
Shawn Teixeira lived in Portugal with his grandmother for part of his childhood because his parents had just opened the Waterbury bakery a year before he was born. The family moved to Naugatuck in 1995 and have been there since.
Shawn Teixeira said he and his brother Jeffrey started helping out at the store with his parents during snow days from school as children. He’s grown up in the bakery and said he knows many of his customers by name.
“You know exactly what they are going to have. They don’t have to say anything,” Shawn Teixeira said. “It’s a small, little mom and pop shop. It’s not like going into a grocery store.”
Shawn Teixeira starts his day at baking at 3 a.m. and works until 11 a.m. when does some business errands. He said he comes back in the afternoon to make sure the orders are ready for the next day so when his bakers come in at night, they know exactly how much bread, hard rolls and Portuguese rolls to make.
Among the longest running wholesale customers for the bakery are Raggozino’s in Southington, Monteiro’s Restaurant in Waterbury and Domenick & Pia Downtown Pizzeria in Waterbury. Shawn Teixeira said he also supplies bread to many of the Frankie’s restaurants as well. He added that Judge Maria Kahn is one of his more high-profile regulars.
The bakery, located at 998 Baldwin St. in Waterbury, is closed on Mondays but is open from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday.