PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Termini Brothers Bakery is an old-school Philadelphia institution. For many people, there can be no Christmas without their famous cannoli. So, when their 80-year-old dough roller suddenly stopped working just after Thanksgiving, they knew they were in big trouble.
"Without this machine, there are no cannolis," said head baker Robert Deetz, who was at their South Philly store when disaster struck.
"We just realized that it was a deeper problem than we thought it was, something that we couldn’t just repair on the spot," he said.
This machine was their back-up, said Joey Termini, co-owner of the 100-year-old multigenerational bakery. Their original machine was getting refurbished — a process that takes several years, Termini said.
"You can’t find the pieces! So, if anything breaks on the machine, it needs to be forged and cast and duplicated," Termini said.
"So, when this went down, there was no back up plan. The only back up plan we could possibly have had was a rolling pin."
The machines are from Italy, and Termini says they don’t make them like this anymore, particularly their original.
"You have to see this thing, it’s like a cotton gin from the 1800s."
Termini says they had some back-up bins of cannoli shells in storage, but that only bought them about two weeks to get the machine fixed. They would never make it through to Christmas.
They reached out to their friends, the Talluto Brothers, a multi-generational pasta business. Joe Talluto offered to lend them one of their pasta machines, but Termini declined.
"The last thing we want to do is take this hard dough and put it through their ravioli machine and break their century-old machine," Termini said.
Eventually, it was the Sanders Brothers, another multi-generational shop, that came to the rescue by tirelessly searching for replacements for the broken parts.
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"They went from machine shop to machine shop to machine shop," Termini said. He then added, "I have no idea" how they fixed it.
But the equipment was restored. And like a South Philly Christmas cannoli miracle, just as they got down to their last bin of shells, the back-up dough roller was returned.
"We didn’t tell anyone outside of the business, because we didn’t want anyone to know — my father in particular," said Termini.
"We’re South Philly. We'll always find a way, … regardless of what obstacles are put in front of us."