The bakery sector has suffered financial difficulties in 2026, as baking chains have closed dozens of locations and certain baking wholesalers, such as AJ Bake Factory, have filed for bankruptcy.
Cookie baking chain Chip City Cookies, which launched in 2017 in New York, closed its remaining 22 store locations on Oct. 2. The company had expanded to almost 50 locations in eight states before declining to zero.
Crumbl, another cookie chain that launched in 2017 in Logan, Utah, faced a deteriorating economic performance in 2026 that led store operators to close at least 57 stores, with some claiming that more could close. Franchisees have listed about 55 locations for sale on broker websites.
AJ Bake Factory files for bankruptcy
And now, AJ Bake Factory LLC, which provides three types of Italian-style breadsticks to retailers and restaurants, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reorganize and restructure its debts.
The Fort Plain, N.Y., breadsticks wholesaler filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of New York, listing $500,000 to $1 million in assets and liabilities on Oct. 18, according to PacerMonitor.
The debtor owes over $115,000 in unsecured debts and the petition indicates funds will be available to pay unsecured claims, according to Whatnow.com.
Company bakes classic breadsticks
The debtor, which also operates as NY Bake Company, manufactures Grissini Classici and Grissini Sesame breadsticks, as well as the Grissini Dippers with a chocolate dip.
The company’s owner Ghanshyam Amin says he started the company to fill a void created after breadsticks manufacturer Stella D’oro in 2010 closed its Bronx, N.Y., factory that made the classic product.
“For decades, Stella D’oro breadsticks were an iconic American favorite – crispy, authentic, Italian-style breadsticks enjoyed across the country. But the original Stella D’Oro breadsticks are no longer being manufactured in their classic form,” Amin said in a LinkedIn post.
Stella D’Oro closed production plant
Amin said that since the Bronx factory closed, the market has been left with an inconsistent supply and declining availability of the original taste and packaging of the breadsticks.
“At NY Bake Co and AJ Bake Factory LLC, a family-owned wholesale commercial bakery, we have the expertise, equipment, and passion to bring back original Stella D’oro quality breadsticks – same taste, same texture, same high standards, and even the original-style packaging,” Amin wrote in his LinkedIn post.
Company makes cookies and biscuits
AJ Bake Factory LLC looked to take advantage of Stella D’Oro discontinuing its classic breadsticks. A survey of Stella D’Oro‘s website shows that the company only offers eight cookie products, including three biscotti varieties, Italian-style Margherite combination cookies, Roman Egg Biscuit Cookies, Breakfast Treats, Almond Delight Cookies, and Lady Stella Assorted Cookies.
Stella D’Oro was founded in 1930 in New York City as a small Italian bakery making cookies and biscuits until Nabisco purchased the company in 1992. Kraft, which had acquired Nabisco, sold the company to private equity firm Brynwood Partners in 2006.
Brynwood sold Stella D’Oro to Lance Inc., which closed the Bronx, N.Y, manufacturing facility in February 2010, stopped making breadsticks, and moved production to Ohio, according to Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery.