David Vocatura

Vocatura’s Bakery was founded in 1919, almost one hundred years ago, and has been owned and operated by three generations of the Vocatura family. Originally founded in Westerly, Rhode Island, the bakery has been in its current location in Norwich, Connecticut, since 1956. The family has been baking bread in the same industrial-sized oven since the 1950s.

The current owners of the business—David, Larry, Frankie and Richard Vocatura—grew up in the bakery. They tell stories about being pushed around the bakery in a hand truck, or crawling into the oven (while the heat was off, of course) and riding around on the baking trays as they circulated like the cars of a carousel.

Today, David and Richard run the front of the house, Larry does the baking and Frankie drives the delivery truck. The family works around the clock to keep the bakery going: The baking is done almost entirely at night, and then the fresh bread is sold throughout the day.

The bakery is a fixture in its community and wins awards and rave reviews for its grinder sandwiches and outstanding white pizza.