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City People

Real men bake cakes

This 51-year-old knows his investments, but he'd rather make desserts.

By SHARON GINN
Published December 23, 2005

SUNSET PARK - Stop by Patrick Laratta's bakery on West Shore Boulevard on a Thursday afternoon, and you might find him with an apron over his suit and tie, mixing a batch of biscotti dough.

If you can track him down on a Friday morning, Laratta is likely fielding calls from his banking clients or checking e-mails on his BlackBerry while making cheesecake or tiramisu.

Laratta's real job - the one that "pays all the bills," he is quick to say - is with Wachovia. He's a wholesaler for 401(k) plans, working with financial advisers out of his home office in Beach Park. His sales territory covers Tampa to Vero Beach and all points south.

But his passion is his year-old Italian pastry shop called Always Sweet, at 3343 S West Shore Blvd., where Laratta, 51, dreams up concoctions such as Bananas Foster cake or orange pistachio biscotti.

It's where you'll find Laratta when he isn't spending time with his family or driving around South Florida making deals.

"This is his dream," said his wife, Carol, who works part time at the shop, baking, taking orders and greeting customers. "It's his love. He is a very creative baker, even in the way he decorates the cakes and in the many different cakes and pies he dreams up."

Laratta's love of baking came from his mother, Francesca, who always welcomed young Patrick into their Syracuse, N.Y., kitchen when she was making dessert. One year she had a new job and was too busy to make the Christmas cookies, so Patrick took over.

From that point on, "he would always say, "Someday I want to have my own pastry shop,' " Francesca Laratta said.

Laratta has been planning it for years. In the 1980s, he started testing recipes on family and friends, giving treats as Christmas gifts.

While in his 40s, he read a book that said many 50-year-olds are happiest when they start another career. On a trip to Italy seven years ago, he ducked into every pastry shop he saw to examine the baked goods and the way they were packaged. He has adopted many of those ideas for his shop.

The Larattas decided to take the plunge nearly two years ago, when Carol decided she wanted a part-time job. They found the location in the summer of 2004, and the shop opened in November 2004.

"The whole purpose of this is (what will happen) five or six years from now," Laratta said. "I can retire from banking, and this will be my retirement job."

His colleagues have been supportive, he said, and it probably doesn't hurt that last year he was ranked No. 1 in the country among Wachovia small-plan 401(k) wholesalers. "My boss orders all his holiday gifts from us," Laratta said.

Laratta likes to joke that he's a "banker by day, baker by night." But really, he squeezes in baking whenever he's not doing work for Wachovia, and, "I have never in my life had banker's hours," he said.

A typical week goes like this: He spends Sunday afternoons or Monday mornings, and sometimes both, making dough and getting Carol ready for the week.

He's back in his home office by 9 a.m. Monday and often spends the week traveling to his Wachovia accounts around the state, returning by Thursday afternoon.

He devotes Thursday evenings to making cakes or pastries to fill weekend orders. On Fridays, Carol opens the shop and Patrick comes in when he can. "When most of my colleagues are on the golf course, I'm in here," he said.

Depending on the season, he goes to the farmer's market in St. Petersburg on Saturday mornings or bakes cinnamon rolls for whoever wanders into the shop.

The Larattas are not without help. They have one employee, Jan Lingren, who fills in so Carol can be with the kids after school. The children often help after school or on trips to the farmer's market.

Numerous friends volunteer to drive their children from school and to activities. Those friends say the Larattas are quick to reciprocate with baked goods for school, church and helpers.

Everyone agrees it is Laratta's dedication that drives the operation.

"It's funny to see him working in the shop and talking to the customers, and then putting on his suit and tie and dress shoes," Carol Laratta said.

"He is as comfortable in an office setting. He can put on those two hats and be totally comfortable."

AGE: 51

FAMILY: Married 18 years to Carol, 43. Four children: Maria, 18; John, 13; Gabie, 10; Sophia, 3

HOME: Beach Park (since 1998)

HISTORY: Born in Syracuse, N.Y., he went to nearby Le Moyne College. Met Carol at NCNB (now part of Bank of America) in Charlotte, N.C. They moved to Tampa in 1991.

WHATEVER WORKS: His youngest daughter comes to the bakery after preschool and often goes next door to the West Shore Men's Hair Shoppe, where she gets her hair and nails done at least twice a week. "She's got better nails than I do," her mother said.

ABOUT THAT NAME: "Always Sweet" is sempre dolce in Italian. The name reminds him of his Italian family growing up. Something sweet was always in the house. It also describes the shop, which always smells of baked goods. But Laratta claims the store is really named after his wife. If she entered a beauty pageant, he says, she would be named Miss Congeniality.

[Last modified December 22, 2005, 09:27:09]