Del Buono’s Pastry Shop set for August opening at former McMillan’s Bakery in South Jersey

The former McMillan’s Bakery in Haddon Township will reopen as Del Buono’s Pastry Shop in late August after months of extensive renovations, featuring the expertise of a McMillan family member and a Food Network alum.

Construction is still underway, but entrepreneur and Haddon Heights resident Tom Whitman, 63, said he plans to host a grand opening on Aug. 29.

Whitman, who also owns 100-year-old Del Buono’s Bakery in Haddon Heights and all three Carmen’s Deli locations, said he and his team took the South Jersey staple, once known for its cream doughnuts and holiday cakes, down to the studs.

“We’re going to build upon that legacy,” Whitman said. “We’ll have some of the original flavor of the business, and hopefully make it better.”

The new pastry shop, set to open seven days a week, will be 2,000 square feet, more than double the size of McMillan’s Bakery. It will feature donuts, pastries, desserts, specialty coffee, and bread and rolls sourced from Del Buono’s Bakery. Whitman said he hopes the products at Del Buono’s Pastry Shop will also be sold at his other storefronts.

“I combine legacies and use the strengths of each of the businesses and try to combine them,” Whitman said.

The pastry shop will use 900 square feet of the new space to host DiBartolo’s Kakery, a cake shop led by Woolwich resident Al DiBartolo.

DiBartolo, 51, has long baked for South Jersey residents and made his name in years past as a winner of Food Network’s Halloween Wars and as a contestant on TLC’s Next Great Baker.

Whitman, a former Domino’s Pizza franchisee, plans to employ between 20 to 40 workers, including part-time and full-time staffers. Some employees who worked at McMillan’s for decades will return, Whitman said.

One employee is Doug Biemiller, a grandson of McMillan’s founders George and Evelyn McMillan. Whitman said Biemiller, DiBartolo, and other bakers have worked together to compile 400 of their recipes to start the pastry shop off.

The founding family of McMillan’s Bakery, a fourth-generation business at 15-17 Haddon Ave., put the shop up for sale in 2024. Whitman purchased the building for $500,000 last September from Grake Homes Construction, according to deed records, to pursue his third revival of a family-owned South Jersey food destination.

In October, Whitman said he planned to spend $1.5 to $2 million on the project, including the real estate purchase and the construction of two apartments above the pastry shop. Weeks before the August opening, Whitman declined to share the total spent, but he said the ticket price was over $2 million, after rebuilding the property from scratch.

He had initially expected the shop to open in February, but construction has taken longer than Whitman anticipated.

“It was extremely expensive, but I just want to do it once, and I want to do it right,” Whitman said.

Until recently, DiBartolo served as chief baking officer for Cherry Hill’s Classic Cake.

But after moving between three jobs in the past two years, DiBartolo said he jumped at the chance to finally bake with his own recipes again and work with Del Buono’s, where his family members are regulars.

“It’s still nice to be in your 50s and make your parents proud,” DiBartolo said.

DiBartolo’s Kakery will have grab-and-go cakes, including fan favorite rum and pound cakes, along with a consultation area where customers can discuss options for custom specialty and wedding cakes.

Del Buono’s Pastry Shop currently plans to have a soft opening in mid-August. In the meantime, renovations to the property are still in progress, and with the Aug. 29 grand opening looming, Whitman said he thinks they’ll meet the deadline to serve locals looking to rediscover their neighborhood “mental health food” destination.

“I’m like a little kid waiting for Christmas,“ Whitman said. ”I want to see it as much as anybody else does."