On February 9th, 78 years of breadstick manufacturing in the Bronx came to a close with the public auction sale of equipment from the Stella D'oro baking headquarters on West 237th Street. This announcement follows years' worth of struggle between the new owners of the facility and the employees, whom were all members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.Founded in 1932 by Joseph Kresivich, an Italian immigrant, it was run by the family before being sold to Nabisco in 1992. Nabisco was bought by Kraft and in 2006, Kraft sold the Stella D'oro factory to a private investing firm, Brynwood Partners. A bitter labor dispute and year long strike ensued. In the end, Brynwood sold the company to Lance Inc. and they moved production to a factory in Ohio, leaving more than 150 people unemployed, some of which had worked there for over 30 years.
