Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Westville's Pisker's bakery holds to tried-and-true techniques

They do things the old-fashioned way at Pisker's, the Westville bakery that iced its first cake when Calvin Coolidge was president.

Pisker’s ownership passed a year ago from Gerald Critch (left) to son Dave, who “started knotting rolls at 16.” (ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer)
Pisker’s ownership passed a year ago from Gerald Critch (left) to son Dave, who “started knotting rolls at 16.” (ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer)Read more

They do things the old-fashioned way at Pisker's, the Westville bakery that iced its first cake when Calvin Coolidge was president.

"We still cut our doughnuts by hand," says Dave Critch, a third-generation baker, whose father bought Pisker's in 1998. "A machine makes them look almost too perfect."

The unpretentious shop in the blue-collar Gloucester County borough of 4,200 opened on Delsea Drive in 1925.

The bakery still occupies its original quarters, which feature a 1937 Hobart mixer, a candy stove from the 1940s, and a vintage dough-sheeter that Critch says "runs like a champ."

Some recipes also go back to early decades of the 20th century, including those that "came with the place," he says. Others are from his family.

Hence the unusual "German cheese pies" (like fluffy cheesecakes with pie crusts) and "chocolate dips" (mini pound cakes covered in store-made fudge) on display.

"We sell as many as 900 of the chocolate dips a week," says Critch, 36.

Might there be any cronuts? Gluten-free muffins? Cookies made of kale?

Please.

Tradition rules at Pisker's, where credit cards are not accepted, and experience is preferred over, say, an oven timer.

"You have a clock in your mind that tells you when the stuff will be ready," Critch explains.

Six days a week, he arrives at work about 1 a.m. from his home in Audubon. He finishes most of the baking before the shop opens five hours later; the kitchen produces more than 100 dozen goods on a typical day.

"It's a grind sometimes, like anything," Critch says. "But I do enjoy it."

A congenial fellow who married his high school sweetheart, Critch got to know his way around the kitchen thanks to his father, Gerald.

"I started knotting rolls at 16," he recalls. "At first, I kind of just did it, but I began to really like it. I started full time as soon as I graduated from Audubon High School in 1997."

His dad, who grew up in Camden's Cramer Hill section, learned the trade from an uncle named Gus Wohler, at one time a baker at Oteri's in Philly.

"There's no secret to it. Just hard work," says Gerald, 60, a longtime baker at the old Olga's Diner in Marlton before he bought Pisker's. Ownership of the business passed from father to son about a year ago.

But Gerald still comes to work regularly, because he loves the shop and the community, too.

For years, Pisker's has regularly donated goodies to Francis House, a Camden ministry for AIDS patients.

"I can't afford to buy them," director Susan Pirilo says. "My people reap the benefits of those beautiful pastries Pisker's gives us."

"Pisker's supports us in so many ways," says Donald Gill of the Westville Lions Club. "I cannot thank [them] enough."

Small-town congeniality rules inside the shop as well.

"I love working here," Susan Geden, who lives in Maple Shade, says from behind the counter. "It's a family atmosphere. And we have terrific customers. We really do."

The front door opens repeatedly, bringing in the roar of the morning rush hour, as well as one sweet-tooth seeker after another.

"I do like their stuff," says Jane Helmes, a hair stylist who lives in nearby Deptford.

"The chocolate crème doughnuts," says Linda Taylor, a nursing assistant, who stops by on her way home to Deptford.

Taylor leaves, calling out, "Bye, hon."

Talk about local flavor - perhaps there's a secret to Pisker's success after all.

Says Gerald, "You have to remember who you are, and you have to remember where you are."