Stewart Manor baker is fixture in community

Rosie Franzi begins her workday when most people are usually asleep. She opens her Italian Bakery and Cafe in Stewart Manor at 4:30 in the morning and begins baking the muffin tops, croissants, bagels and bread.

On a recent Saturday, her first customer, Kathy, orders three cappuccinos, one small and two large. The small one she sips on at the bakery, making conversation with Franzi.

“She has a tab here,” said Franzi, pulling out Kathy’s tab. “Every morning she comes in.”

Franzi, 55, who lives in Franklin Square, has been baking since she was a little girl growing up in the village of Bari in Italy.

Franzi has been in the baking business since she moved to America in 1968. She owned a bagel shop in Franklin Square for 25 years and another one in Wantagh before opening up Rosie’s Italian Bakery and Cafe in Stewart Manor.

“My son surprised me with the store about two years ago,” she said. “I couldn't believe he did that for me.”

Franzi has three children and six grandchildren. Her daughter and son make the specialty cakes in the bakery despite not having any formal training.

“I learned to make cakes through YouTube,” said her son, Frank Franzi. “I love baking.”

He said he felt the family was separating and everyone was drifting apart, so he figured the best way to bring the family together was to buy a shop.

But the Franzi matriarch is not only a baker, she's a fixture in the community.

"Anything the chamber asks her to do, she does," said Joanne Corrao, resident of Stewart Manor and a daily customer at Rosie's. "She's like the mayor of Stewart Manor.”

Rosie Franci recently raised $1,500 for a 6-year-old boy who was diagnosed with a brain tumor. And she is always baking cookies and cakes for events in Stewart Manor.

"If I can help, then why not? I love my customers. I love this village,” she said. “People are so nice, of course I will help out."

The family business has been in Stewart Manor for just two years yet Franzi already knows the entire community.

"I don't know my customers’ names, but I know their coffee," she said. "This is fun, everyday something different."

Franzi said she doesn't mind opening the store at four in the morning because she looks forward to seeing people smile.

"The neighborhood wants her; if I get rid of her, I close down,” Frank Franzi said. "I told her when she retires, I want her to run for mayor."

Photo: Rosie Franzi, 55, owner of Rosie's Italian Bakery and Cafe in Stewart Manor. (Dec. 10, 2011)