Saratoga News Photograph by George Sakkestad David Madigan shows off some of the baked goods available at Mama's Bakery. Mama's Bakery goes retail to delight of hungry locals By Suzanne Cristallo At 5 a.m., it takes David Madigan two minutes to get from his home in Monte Sereno to Mama's Bakery in Los Gatos. Fresh from his easy commute, he loads his van with trays of aromatic baked goods--sweet rolls and pastries still warm from the oven--and heads down the road for the day's delivery to the dozens of wholesale customers he serves between Cupertino and Gilroy. Now Madigan is serving direct. For the past month, neighbors and local business owners in the N. Santa Cruz Avenue area north of Highway 9 have been delighted to find the bakery has gone retail. Madigan and wife Vicky leased the second location just two doors away from their wholesale store across from Safeway to accommodate the walk-in trade. A Los Altos native, 32-year-old Madigan is a veteran of sales and marketing, as well as high-tech recruiting, who now relishes each opportunity he has to meet his customers. "Hi, I'm Mama," he says with a grin, having fun with the bakery name picked by his sister, Cat Griffin, to honor their grandmother. Griffin ran the bakery alone for five years before selling to the Madigans a year ago so she could work in the high-tech industry. "We've quadrupled sales since then," Madigan says. He has two bakers working two shifts while he does deliveries and runs the retail store. Both he and Vicky, a Hewlett-Packard employee, serve as "pinch hit" bakers during off hours, and their 12-year-old daughter, Christine, a Fisher Middle School student, helps with retail on Saturdays. "It's definitely a family operation," Madigan says proudly, pointing to 2-year-old Amanda taking her afternoon nap on a futon in the rear of the store. "She's one of our tasters." Amanda spends every day with her dad in the store. "We stick together," he says, explaining that no childcare can provide the experience his girls are getting being with him and taking part in the store. "They will know what a dollar buys and what it takes to earn one." The approaching holidays are good reason for the extra baking of pumpkin and pecan pies at Mama's in addition to special-order items. Madigan says their specialty cake is the chocolate applesauce cake created by baker Micky Cardoza. "Micky won't even tell me what's in the recipe," Madigan laughs, but notes that whatever it is, it's a combination that makes the cake their biggest seller. Another popular item is the soft biscotti, which comes in amaretto, white chocolate and apricot flavors. "You won't lose a filling with them," Madigan says. Besides the breads, cheesecakes, croissants, cookies, muffins, scones and strudels they bake, they also have "jammies"--a treat made with pie crust dough filled with raspberry, lemon, apple and apricot. They're sold individually or by the dozen. "We bake whatever people want," Madigan emphasizes. "Just name it!" Mama's Bakery, 469 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos. Open Mon.-Fri. 8:30 a.m.- 4 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 395-5254. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, November 18, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.