Because he is the boss—the Cake Boss, that is—Buddy Valastro does not require anyone’s permission to grow his Hoboken-based empire. Lately, the apron-less reality-TV baker has been expanding in all directions.
This month, after taping the third season of Cake Boss, TLC will launch The Next Great Baker, another reality show, in which Valastro will judge the skills of ten top cake decorators. The show premieres December 6, and for the winner, the spoils will include a job at Carlo’s City Hall Bake Shop, the Valastro family business.
As it happens, there should be a little more elbow room at Carlo’s. This spring, Valastro and company are opening a second Carlo’s bakery in Jersey City’s new Lackawanna Center, a 1.3 million-square-foot retail/office/industrial megaplex. The new Carlo’s will not displace the century-old one in Hoboken, at which scores of sweet-toothers line up daily for a chance to peruse the cannoli case. In fact, the 30,000-square-foot Lackawanna site will only be used for baking and will not be open to the public.
Valastro has also been busy lately on a promotional tour for his new memoir, Cake Boss: Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia (Free Press). Next up is yet another proposed TV project, a cooking show that Valastro hopes to start shooting soon. (Yes, Valastro cooks, too.)
And the Cake Boss is only getting busier: He and his wife, Lisa, are expecting their fourth child in February.