The Submarine “The Bread That Made Atlantic City Famous”

Pictured above are “The Fab Four,” the Beatles enjoying Atlantic City’s famous submarine bun in 1963…made by Formica Brothers Bakery.

No disrespect to the great submarine sandwich makers of Atlantic City, New Jersey…it’s really all about the bread.

George E. Norcross, III rescued Formica Brothers bakery with a cash infusion of more than $5 million in January 2022

Norcross was literally born in the baking industry.

We confirmed with Norcross in January 2022 that this was a tribute, memorial and recognition to Norcross’ paternal grandfather, August Freitag, who founded Freitag Bakery in Camden in 1890.

Few people knew, until our breaking news story in 2022, that baking has been a great tradition in the Norcross family for over 100 years.

Formica has been renamed Formica Freitag Bakery.

Commenting on the decision to make this major investment, Norcross said:

To our loyal customers, for over 100 years, Formica Freitag Bakery has enjoyed an unmatched reputation for high-quality, fresh-baked breads and submarine rolls. Our unique recipe, combined with our unwavering commitment to serving our customers, has created a legacy that has continued to grow and thrive since Francisco Formica built Formica Freitag into the legendary company it is today, Norcross said.

Today, the bakery has reached new heights after spending more than two years perfecting a version of its famous Atlantic City bread that can be frozen and thawed…where it returns to a crisp, fresh-baked quality.

Norcross confirmed during our live interview yesterday that Formica Freitag Atlantic City bread can be frozen for up to 6 months and still taste as good as the day it was baked.

We met with Frank Formica yesterday, who shared some incredible details about this product:

It’s All About Bread and Relationships Since biblical times, breaking bread has been a vital part of human history. Formica’s Bakery has a small percentage of that history with 105 years of continuous service. Another iconic bakery in Camden, NJ, Freitag Bakery, carved out its own piece of history from 1890 through the 20th century. The two families merged their 2 centuries of heritage, in 2022, to form Formica-Freitag Bakery. Formicas and George Norcross, the Freitag Bakery family, formed with the vision of delivering “The Bread that Made Atlantic City Famous” nationwide. Patrick (Mangraviti) McKenna, Partner and Owner of Taste of Italy, LLC, Frank D. Formica, and Frank McGlynn, Production Manager, developed a fully baked, frozen Atlantic City Submarine Bread. For two years, using Francesco Formica’s historic recipe, they experimented, produced and perfected a fully baked, frozen 10-inch Atlantic City Sub bun, Formica said.

Here is how they do it, along with some testimonials:

The recipe is enriched with only “Clean Label,” all-natural, allergen-free ingredients, which give the product a 6-month freezer life and a 2-day use once thawed. And of course, the water source used in all recipes comes exclusively from the nationally renowned Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer. The unique advantage over “brown and serve” bread is that the end user does not need to reheat or cook the product. During the testing phase, samples were sent to individuals and businesses across the country who were already familiar with Atlantic City Bread. The results were unanimous. The recipients could not believe their tongues; all declared that this was the real AC bread. The highest compliment came from legendary local sub shop owner Al Sacco, Sack-O subs: “It was so good I could not tell the taste and quality of thawed frozen bread from fresh delivered bread.”

In March of this year, a state-of-the-art freezer measuring 80 feet by 80 feet and 20 feet high was built at a cost of over $1 million to store a supply of frozen products capable of meeting national demand.

Customers expressing serious interest in the “Bread that Made Atlantic City Famous” include:

• Wawa
• Jersey Mike
• Hard Rock Tampa and Hollywood
• Saker ShopRite Store
• Ravitz ShopRite Store
• Cousin Subs (100 stores)

This is the case for many users in the local market.

We can also confirm that on June 4, 2024, Formica-Freitag Bakery proudly announced the appointment of Daniel Mulloy as its new Managing Director.

Mulloy has more than 40 years of experience in the baking industry. He was the former senior operations manager for a large bakery that produced and distributed frozen breads nationwide. His roots are in Cape May and Atlantic County.

Here’s a sneak peek at this awesome Atlantic City bread:

Enjoy your food.

SOURCES: George E. Norcross, III and Frank D. Formica.

Now, enjoy below our two photo galleries of great Atlantic City area food and another with favorite comfort foods that were submitted by our readers and on-air listeners, foodies, family members and friends.