La Biscotteria in Redwood City offers gourmet Italian goods baked on-site

Not only has Buonocore built the business since 1989, in 2003 he built the shop it’s run out of as well. With a degree in architecture, Buonocore designed the building just as he pictured it — inspired by old San Francisco with a wood facade and exposed neon lights. 

“I designed every piece,” Buonocore said. “The way you see it is the way I wanted it.” 

In a similar vein, Buonocore does not compromise when it comes to his product. 

Nothing deters Buonocore from making sure that his Italian baked goods are made with the highest quality ingredients, care and a longstanding traditional recipe he’s maintained from his grandmother Nonna Maria. 

Buonocore’s key, he said, is using pure essential oils rather than extracts or flavorings. He always uses pure cane sugar and the richest chocolate he can find, and he never skimps on purchasing the freshest eggs or the best almonds directly from growers.  

“If people come here, they’re getting something baked on premises, with the best ingredients,” he said. 

Consistency ensures customers come back, he said. Only a handful of employees work for Buonocore, and most have been by his side for over 27 years. 

“It can be the same recipe and five different people can try it and the final product will all come out different,” Buonocore said. “It’s all in the manner of preparation, what cream, butter, sugar you use. The technique.”

During the holiday season, Buonocore does enlist a few more hands to help — the shop turns out about 500 pounds of biscotti each day at its busiest. La Biscotteria also offers plenty of holiday specials outside of biscotti that customers can indulge in this upcoming season. 

A favorite is the highly anticipated cuccidati cookies, a Sicilian pastry that encases a spiced fig filling, apt for Christmas celebrations. The iconic Italian holiday special, panettone, is also available. 

Although Buonocore, who is 64 years old, said he has become increasingly interested in slowing things down and lightening the load off his shoulders, he still loves what he does. 

“I just keep going, as long as I can,” Buonocore said. “If I get up in the morning, and God gives me the strength to keep going, I do it.” 

The holiday season requires everyone to work longer hours, sometimes upwards of 15 a day, but Buonocore is neither unfamiliar nor bothered by hard work. In fact, finding young employees who will keep up with him is particularly difficult, he said.  

Buonocore was taught as a child that if there was work, to work as much as you can and save, because you never know what could happen — a practice he thinks the younger generation doesn’t prioritize. 

In recent years, Buonocore has slowed down slightly, though.

La Biscotteria products were once found in retail grocers, like Safeway and Lunardi’s, until about a year and a half ago, when Buonocore decided selling wholesale wasn’t worth the cost anymore. 

At its peak, the bakery was turning out about 1,000 pounds of biscotti every day, selling out of grocers as well as 27 farmers’ markets in six different counties. 

Though it was a difficult decision to pull his product out of grocers, Buonocore has much more control over the money he can earn from his own retail shop. 

Even after scaling down, the costs of ingredients and production only continue to rise — and Buonocore refuses to buy the cheap stuff. Rather than increasing the costs of his baked goods, though, he’d take the loss. 

“There’s been a lot of times where I sacrifice my own profit to make sure I continue buying the right ingredients, even though they’ve all escalated in price,” Buonocore said. “If it means I have to take a loss to keep customers satisfied and the doors open, I’ll do it.” 

A dedicated customer base keeps La Biscotteria’s business steady throughout the year, but after this holiday season the shop will be closed at the top of 2026 for a well-deserved break. 

There will likely be a time when Buonocore will look to retire — “I can only do so much work, and those guys can only do so much work” — but when asked if he’d passed the business along, he shakes his head. 

From its recipe and the kitchen it’s baked in, to the intention of each business decision, La Biscotteria is Buonocore’s to its core. When he’s ready to move on, the shop will likely close, whether that’s in the next handful of years or decades down the road. 

“Nobody could do it the way I would do it,” Buonocore said.