What It Was Like To Grow Up Working In A Bakery For Buddy Valastro

Watch any episode of "Cake Boss" and you'll quickly see that working at Carlo's Bakery is very much a family affair. According to Buddy Valastro, it's been that way ever since he was a kid, when his father, Buddy Valastro Sr., was still the Cake Boss. He told Thrillist that he spent most of his childhood working at the bakery, and he wouldn't have it any other way. "It was kind of awesome. It was a lot of work and a lot of hours, but it was our family, our norm," he shared. "You know, even on Christmas growing up, we'd be working. But it felt normal."

Valastro didn't have many days off. In fact, he recalls his first day of work vividly, when his father had him clean the toilet. "He wanted to show that just because I was his son, I didn't get special treatment. And he wanted me to know what it was like to be the guy who had to clean the bathroom," Valastro explained. As much as he learned all the recipes and techniques — most importantly how to properly fill cannoli — he says his father also made sure he knew the ins and outs of how to properly run a bakery.

Buddy Valastro believes that it is the family-centric nature that has given both the TLC show and Carlo's Bakery ample success (via Newsday). "Nobody is going to work harder than your family. Nobody is going to care more than your family. When the chips are down, your family will be there like nobody else," Valastro shared.

Valastro is instilling the same mentality in his children that his father instilled in him, and although he says he would never force them to work in the family business, he does hope that they ultimately choose to follow in his footsteps. So far, Valastro's two oldest children have already expressed an interest in taking over Carlo's Bakery just as he took over from his father. "Sophia is definitely the most artistic. And she's definitely very bossy. I can see her being the boss one day," Valastro told Newsday. "But my son Buddy has got the drive. He doesn't give up ever." From his daughter hosting episodes of "Cakehouse" to his sons working at the bakery when they don't have school (via TikTok), it seems the Valastro family is slowly turning into a whole family of cake bosses.