Notable Edibles - Buckies Biscotti & Bakery Cafe

Buckies Biscotti & Bakery Cafe opened along Route 28 in Dennisport over 20 years ago, at a time when Main Street was struggling to survive. The once-thriving village center lost businesses and customers to nearby shopping malls and struggled to get people downtown after a major supermarket and hardware store closed. Throughout the years, however, with town and private developer investment, other businesses began trickling back in.

“And it’s not happening yet,” said Alyson Bucchiere, 60, the owner of Buckies Biscotti, about the revitalization of Dennisport. “But, I can see it in four or five years.” The town invested in redoing the roadway, making wider sidewalks and adding lighting. The construction lasted a few years, which hampered business. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

The loss in business almost drove Bucchiere to sell, especially as the cost of owning and maintaining a bakery and cafe has made it harder to be profitable. Instead, she decided to buckle down, re-invest and grow for the next few years before handing it off to the next person. “There’s a lot of opportunity,” said Bucchiere, speaking of Dennisport. “And that’s what I’d like to see.” But, she would like someone else to take the helm. “I don’t think Buckies needs to be here all day, every day,” said Bucchiere. “I’d like to see somebody else come in and add some new life.”

Her passion for the food business runs in her blood. Her family came from Sicily and settled in Saugus where they built a food and hospitality network of businesses on the North Shore over the generations. All of her brothers and uncles are in on it, Bucchiere said. “Everybody had a restaurant.”

The bakery’s name comes from her grandfather, who used to be called “Buck.” It was an abbreviation of the family name, and he started the original food business. Despite her attempts to get out of the industry, even saying, “‘I’ll never own my own business’ at the kitchen table, and I’d be like, ‘No, never.’” She still found herself in it anyway.

Before starting her own business, Bucchiere worked as a manager at the Mercantile in Dennis Village for nearly seven years. In 1993, she decided to leave Cape Cod and travel. But, in the back of her mind, she had always dreamed of opening a biscotti and coffee business. She went to her father and said she wanted to start her own company. Bucchiere remembers, “And he said, ‘Do you have any money?’ [which she did not], and said, ‘Don’t talk to me until you have any money because you’re not going to get any business until you have any money.’”

So, she decided to return to work for him for a few years and saved up the cash. In 1999, she built up a business where she would drive around a refrigerated truck with deliveries of biscotti across the Cape. However, it was seasonal, so she opened her retail business in Dennis Village in 2002 using her family’s recipes. She moved into her current location in 2011. At one point, she opened a second location in Harwichport, but has since decided to concentrate on the Dennisport location.

Buckies caters to the everyday working crowd selling affordable scones, bagels, breakfast sandwiches and coffee. During the holiday season, she sells biscotti trays and boxes of cannolis. Most famously, the bakery is known for its array of biscotti, which come in flavors such as almond, cranberry orange, lemon pistachio, chocolate chunk and fig. The biscotti are on full display at the front of the cafe alongside Italian-style cookies. Bucchiere, who employs about 10 people, has since scaled back on lunch, instead focusing on serving breakfast all day with grab-and-go sandwiches.

Now, it’s come full circle: Bucchiere wants to enter wholesale again, aiming to build up accounts across the Cape. “I’m knocking on doors trying to get my product out there,” Bucchiere said.

Recently, she obtained an entertainment license to host live music. She was amazed at how many people wanted to play in her bakery. She has live acts on the weekends from 11am to 1pm throughout the summer, with plans to expand into the fall. “The town needs more life,” said Bucchiere, who wants more people to come to Dennisport year-round. “I think music is the key to bringing people to stop.”

Buckies Biscotti & Bakery Café
681 Main Street, Dennisport
buckiesbiscotti.com