Des Plaines Office Equipment helps baking company

Des Plaines Office Equipment recently helped Alpha Baking after its Love Park facility was damaged by fire.

Alpha Baking Company, which has served Chicago and the Midwest since 1979, suffered a fire at its Love Park (Rockford) facility, which damaged the building and destroyed the roof. Alpha Baking is a client of Des Plaines Office Equipment; the baking company uses document generation equipment provided by DPOE. When the fire occurred, Miceli received a call from his contact within the company, the IT technician, alerting them to the fire and that the copier they purchased from DPOE was destroyed by the fire.

For Vic Miceli, co-owner and vice-president of Miceli, the story had an eerily familiar ring. The flagship building of his company, in Elk Grove Village, was severely damaged last July when a microburst came through town and ripped the roof right off the building.

Miceli and his brother Chip, the owners of Des Plaines Office Equipment, have a location in Loves Park which is near where the Alpha Baking plant is located. They offered the shared use of their warehouse and facilities so that Alpha would not need to reroute its deliveries while they repair their facility.

Robert McGuire, VP, director of logistics at Alpha Baking, said, "Thanks to DPOE's assistance, Alpha Baking suffered no disruption to local retailers of their full line of S. Rosen's and Natural Ovens Bakery bread, buns, and rolls."

Alpha Baking Company, Inc. was established in 1979 with the acquisition of the Mary Ann Baking Company in Chicago. Founded in 1935, Mary Ann is best known for the ever-popular Chicago style poppy seed hot dog bun. In 1981, Alpha Baking purchased S. Rosen's Baking Company, a Chicago staple and baker of Jewish hearth rye breads and variety rolls since 1909.