Fifth generation of Mahoning County bakers on 150 years of kolachi creations
For five generations, members of the Naumoff family have made waves in local business, unafraid to take risks and start new strategies to bring baked goods to Mahoning County and beyond.
For over 150 years, they’ve been preparing varieties of kolachi and cookies in small batches from scratch without any artificial ingredients.
The bakery is run by the family members including Nick Naumoff Jr., James Naumoff and Jeff Naumoff who use traditional European recipes dating back to the 1800s.
Beginnings of baking with Dimitri Naumoff
The Butter Maid bakery history started when Dimitri Naumoff opened his first bakery in Ohio in 1903.
When Dimitri’s neighborhood bakery on Rayen Avenue in Youngstown burned down, he took a gamble and opened Steelton Bakery on Steel Street.
During the Great Depression, Steelton Bakery delivered home-baked bread throughout the west side of the Youngstown and surrounding neighborhoods.
Steelton Bakery started delivering using a horse-drawn carriage, but Dimitri’s business grew and he brought a fleet of drivers on board.
Becoming Butter Maid Bakery
Nicholas Charles grew up at Steelton Bakery helping his father, Dimitri.
In 1955, Nicholas opened a new shop called Butter Maid Bakery on July 21 of 1955 in the Boardman Plaza in Boardman, which was one of the nation’s first shopping malls.
The Butter Maid name has remained part of the Naumoff family ever since, kids growing up to take on responsibilities behind the counter.
“We were proud to be one of the first tenants in the first major shopping center developed by Edward J. DeBartolo, legendary real estate entrepreneur who developed the first shopping mall concept,” the family said.
Decades later, the families still support the Butter Maid baked goods in person and online, according to the Naumoffs.
Entering the digital delivery age
While at college in 2006, fourth generation family member Jeff Naumoff created the Butter Maid Bakery website from his apartment.
“We started shipping. We were now happy to reach all of our out of town customers, and find many new ones. Over the years, steady growth of our online sales led us to refocus our efforts,” the family said.
By starting the website and expanding the business’ reach across state lines, Jeff took on the latest phase of his family legacy pioneering in the baking industry.
The website grew rapidly and in 2014, the family scaled back the business from three separate locations back into one large bakery in the Boardman Plaza.
“The decision felt like a huge gamble at the time, but then we remembered Great Grandpa Dimitri’s gamble,” the family stated.
Today Nick Jr, James, and his son Jeff still make kolachi and cookies at the Boardman Plaza bakery where they first opened in 1955.
