In 1957, times were tough for a fourth generation baker in Cork County, Ireland. Young John Shanahan, had a child at home to support, so with just the clothes on his back and a talent for his trade, he crossed the Atlantic, leaving his young wife and one year old son Colm in Ireland until he could afford to bring them to America.

He found his first job working in a little French settlement known as Milltown, New Jersey. John Shanahan and the old European baker who owned the bakery worked together for years, becoming like father and son. And like most great American stories, after much hard work and a little luck, John was able to buy the bakery from the old man when he retired.

Now he had his chance to succeed and he and his wife set about it with a vengeance. More children arrived, the oldest Colm was born in Ireland, next came Anthony, then Owen, Keirin and finally the little girl they always wanted, Siobhan.

John combined the Eastern European traditions learned from the old man with his own style of baking from Western Europe. In John's bakery, not only could you find mouth watering delicacies like chocolate babkas and Hungarian Kifley made with cream cheese dough, but also John's now famous, Irish Soda Bread and Scones. This melding of traditions became a true recipe for success and John's business flourished over the years.

But John realized that success required a 100% commitment. He and his wife, Kathleen worked long back breaking hours. They needed help, but they didn't have to look far to get it. The family lived upstairs from the business, so all the Shanahan children worked in the bakery at one time or another, and around the clock on holidays. But it was Colm, fifth generation Irish baker who distinguished himself as the one to watch, displaying dazzling creativity and true talent for baking. At the age of 11 years old, he became his father's right hand man and has worked for his father ever since. Colm Shanahan, now the proprietor of Shanahan's Bakery Cafe is the son of Irish immigrants, John and Kathleen Shanahan, and in a real life American success story continues the tradition of "Scratch Bread Baking" by making their products the old fashioned way, by hand, with no short cuts and nothing artificial. So come in for your taste of old world styled baked goods today.