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Thornton Academy
438 Main St.
Saco, Maine, 04072
(207) 282-3361
STORY BY BREANNA BELANGER & KELLI O'CONNOR
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BREANNA BELANGER & MICHAEL REILLY
PAGE DESIGN BY NICK BELL, BRIAN STETSON, & ERIC ULDBJERG
As customers pull open the glass doors to Reilly's Bakery, they are engulfed by the wonderful smell of fresh bread and sweet frosting. Glass cases filled with pies and birthday cakes, racks filled with pastries with raspberry, apple, strawberry, and cherry fillings, counters filled with fresh breads and rolls. Through the archway, behind the counter, customers are able to see a wonderland of stainless steel baking machines lightly covered with flour. A man stands at the back near a huge mixer, blending a delectable concoction for the day. His name is Michael Reilly, and he is the third generation of bakers to work at Reilly's.
It all began when his grandfather left his work at Colling Woods Bakery of Massachusetts in 1910 and started his own bakery, Reilly and Macfarlane Bakery on Main Street in Biddeford. Through the years the bakery has been sold from generation to generation, starting with Michael's grandfather, to his uncle, Norman Reilly, and father, Ed Reilly. Now, the bakery is in Michael's hands.
Michael's interest in learning the business started at a very young age. When Michael was born, Reilly's bakery had just been taken over by his father. As a child, Michael dreamed of someday working in the bakery and even of owning it himself. As he grew older, his dream of being a baker never faded. He graduated from high school and went on to SMVTI to study culinary arts in preparation for his future in the baking business. He also had a lot of on the job training from his father and uncle.
After college, Michael continued to work in the bakery for his uncle and father. Soon thereafter, he met his future wife, Denise. After they met, Denise started helping out at the bakery part-time. Before long, they married, moved into their house in Saco, and had their first child, Shawn. A few years later, Denise gave birth to her second child, Elizabeth. Ever since they were born, the children were destined to have some part in the bakery. Shawn and Elizabeth both went their separate ways for a few years but are both currently back at the bakery.
Michael has many fond memories of working at Reilly's with his family.
"When Shawn first started working here, he threw a fifty pound flour bag over his head and it broke like an egg and completely covered the floor. He went outside through the back door and I threw a broom at him and told him to come back when he was presentable," Mike laughs.
"My daughter's last day here, she hit me with a lemon meringue pie in the face. She asked my permission first, and I said it was fine, which is pretty unusual that I had fun in the workplace. I took off my glasses and stood by the sink, and she hit me right in the face. I was pulling meringue from my temples for a while."
Family so permeates the business that sometimes the past seeps into the present and blurs the lines between the owners of the last 92 years.
Mike remembers," One morning, around three a.m., when I was working by myself, it was quiet and peaceful and dark outside. In the corner of my eye, I saw a reflection of an older man in a brown suit so vividly. I went to see who was at the door. No one was there, but what I remember about my grandfather when he owned this place, he always wore a brown suit. I kinda felt like he was there watching over me,"
"When my uncle and my father wanted to sell the bakery, I had to decide if I wanted to meet their price, start on my own, or go to work for someone else," said Mike. He decided to buy the bakery from his uncle and his father. Now Mike's dream has finally come true and the bakery is in his hands. He has been the owner of Reilly's for about twenty years and his life has never been so busy. " I get up at a quarter to two in the morning, get to work at three a.m., and do more then one job at a time. I get out of work between twelve and one in the afternoon, and then I go home to take a nap. Then after my nap I go back to work for a couple more hours till we close up. When I get home I eat and am in bed around eight p.m. every night," states Mike.
Although this may seem like a very grueling schedule it doesn't seem as difficult to Mike as learning the mixer. He remembers learning to work the mixer and mixing the recipes as one of the hardest things he has done, because an ounce of salt makes a big difference. Whether the dough is too heavy or too light and whether you throw the batch out or not depends on total attention to detail and a sense of the perfect ingredient measurements. The job requires a lot from a person and Mike believes that is why there are not many bakers in the area. "The job is very demanding and that's why not many people do it. It requires six to seven days a week; your whole lifestyle revolves around the job. You can't be going to bed late or staying out late. You miss out on a lot of things," Mike says.
With the challenges and difficulties, the job comes with a lot of satisfaction and rewards. "It's a very skilled profession. Not many people do it well, and not everybody does it from scratch like we do," proudly states Mike. Mike says that the most rewarding part of his job is being able to work for himself. "It has a lot to do with doing something nice for someone else, customers relying on me, and being consistent for them," says Mike. The same pride that Mike has for his job, he hopes to be able to pass on to his son. Mike feels very strongly about keeping the business in the family. "Not too many people have a family business and not too many family businesses have lasted as long as we have," says Mike.
Keeping the bakery in the family was an easy decision for Mike but not all decisions he has made have been that easy. "About two years ago, the bank decided to expand. I had the choice of selling to the bank and retiring or selling to the bank and working for someone else. By doing that I would of got more money for less hours because of the experience I have. I also had the choice of moving to route 111 with everyone else, which would of given me more customers because of more traffic, or moving a little further down the street [Main Street]. I decided to stay right on Main Street because I didn't want to abandon the other business's and because I didn't know how well they would have survived," Mike says.
Mike is confident in the decision he made and is hopeful for the future. He hopes to reach one hundred years of being in business and also be able to see his son take over the bakery. One other thing that Mike is looking forward to is becoming a grandfather. His daughter, Elizabeth, is pregnant with her first child and Mike couldn't be any happier.
Last of all Mike has a little advice for the younger generations. "In working, you only succeed if you find something you like to do and always give one hundred percent. In general stay away from drugs, I never tried them. I have known people and had people who have worked for me who did, and no matter what they say or do it affects them later on in life. Other then that, do the best you can and be good to people."
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