Gallery of Cakes had its grand opening by the Kochlany Family in August of 2000. Still, the story of this family and bakery began before that date.
Yonnie and Toni lived in Miami while their children were attending school. Both worked in spiritually unrewarding jobs. One day, they sat down and had a long discussion. How could they feel better about their jobs? The answer was to follow the American Dream and open up their own place. Since they had a restaurant in Israel when they were younger, they decided to open one here.
After consulting with children, Yonnie's Pizzeria was opened. Shortly after its opening, Yonnie's clients asked for more. Pizza was not enough. Yonnie's expanded into an Italian restaurant. Ahh, but to become a restaurant is not easy. Yonnie and Toni, with the help of their children, expanded the business.
A small and seemingly insignificant decision changed their lives. Yonnie decided to modify his pizza dough recipe so he could make rolls for the bakery. Yonnie's clients ate it up (literally and figuratively). They started ordering them separately. They ordered the breads to go. They ordered the Challahs for the weekend. They couldn't get enough. Something else happened.How could you have an Italian restaurant with no dessert?
Yonnie always had a passion for cakes and cake decoration. He'd studied it for years, but only as a hobby. So Yonnie made a cake once. A client tasted it and liked it. That client told another client and another and another. Yonnie started making cakes for special occasions, birthdays, parties, holidays, weddings. After a few years, Yonnie's clients were no longer clients. They were
friends. The business was becoming too successful for its own size. Again, after consulting with the family, the decision was made. We must sell Yonnie's and open a factory. This factory will only make baked goods.
While we had a lot of business, and we made hundreds of cakes and thousands of breads per day, again, something felt empty. We missed the joy of being at work. This passion became "a job." It was no longer fun. Who wants that? Again we sat around the table and discussed. "What can we do? What was it that made us happy?" We realized all too quickly. We missed our friends. In a short period of time we sold the big factory and open a neighborhood cake bakery, a specialty bakery. That's when Gallery of Cakes was born.
Back to the same neighborhood with the same familiar faces, we started to smile again. We started to enjoy our work. It wasn't a job. It was a joy. Those same babies who had a first birthday cake with us, now have us make their Bar Mitzvah cakes. Those same teens who had their Bar Mitzvahs cakes with us years ago, now have us make their wedding cakes. And those who had given us the honor of making their wedding cakes, now let us make their
Anniversary cakes and their children's first birthday cakes. We actually saw the beauty of life through our cakes and art. If we weren't a family business, we don't think that this would have happened.
Back to the same neighborhood with the same familiar faces, we started to smile again. We started to enjoy our work. It wasn't a job. It was a joy. Those same babies who had a first birthday cake with us, now have us make their Bar Mitzvah cakes. Those same teens who had their Bar Mitzvahs cakes with us years ago, now have us make their wedding cakes. And those who had given us the honor of making their wedding cakes, now let us make their Anniversary cakes and their children's first birthday cakes. We actually saw the beauty of life through our cakes and art. If we weren't a family business, we don't think that this would have happened.

And that is the continuing story of Gallery of Cakes.