Conroe bakery finds a home in furniture store
Original owner passes the freshly baked baton to a husband-wife team
Before opening a bakery inside a Conroe furniture store, Jon Iacono spent nearly five decades in the restaurant industry — opening several restaurants across the U.S.
After moving to Conroe from California, Iacono said he needed to get back to work. In October 2022, he opened Jon’s Bakery and Deli inside the American Furniture Warehouse off Interstate 45 in Conroe.
“I went in there one day looking for furniture for my new house that I bought out here,” Iacono said, noting he immediately asked for the manager’s number to try and work a deal to open the bakery. “The build-out was already there, I had the equipment.”
‘Passion and ... pride’
From cookies to cinnamon rolls, everything at the bakery is homemade, said Zak Galindo, who took over Iacono’s business in September.
Due to medical issues, Iacono set out to find someone to take over. He would frequent Galindo’s Coffee Co. on FM 1488 and he met Galindo and his wife, Sophie, who owns the coffee shop, he said.
After meeting with them, he approached the couple to take over his bakery, he said. The couple took over as the new owners of the bakery in September.
For two months, the Galindos trained with Iacono — starting their day around 5 a.m., prepping the dough to bake for pastries and other goods, Galindo said.
“We were there at 5:30 in the morning with him, all the way to closing time at 6 p.m.,” Galindo said. “It was really important for him also that, whoever took the place over had as much passion and as much pride in doing things the way he did … for us, we have a saying, ‘the way you do something is the way you do everything.’ It was really important that we were able to show that.”
The couple rebranded the bakery as Galindo’s Bakery and Deli, promising to not change anything from Iacono’s original menu — something that has gained the attention of Conroe residents for its homemade and fresh products.
The bakery and deli serves pastries as well as other food items such as breakfast burritos, pizza and sandwiches.
“There’s (some) people that come into the furniture store because they want the food,” Galindo said. “They don’t come in looking for furniture.”
Looking for a team
Originally from Honduras, Galindo grew up sitting in oldschool barbershops in Chicago, a market he felt was untapped in the Conroe area.
After opening Galindo’s barbershop, the couple soon opened a second location, a coffee shop and a spa, Galindo said.
“What we did in the barbershop, aside from cutting hair, we were building a community,” he said.
His businesses all revolve around bringing people together and making people feel good, Galindo said.
Iacono knew he wanted the couple to take over his bakery after meeting them, he said.
“I picked Zak and Sophie because they’re very successful business people already,” Iacono said. “I was looking for a husband and wife team that had the passion for business. And they fit it like a glove.”
Self employed for 46 years
Iacono spent 46 years self employed, opening a total of seven restaurants, with some in New Jersey, Arizona and California, he said.
After turning 65, he felt like he was at a point where he shouldn’t work anymore, he said.
“It’s actually a young person’s business,” Iacono said. “If you’re going to make it work, you have to really put all your eggs in one basket. I wasn’t able to do that anymore. So I decided to let somebody else take the bull by the horns.”
Galindo said he intends to honor Iacono by maintaining his vision for the bakery.
“Jon started something that was amazing,” Galindo said. “And we’re just carrying it forward and honoring him … carrying forward everything he started. Even though we’ve rebranded to the Galindo’s brand, we’re still keeping everything the way Jon intended it to be. And we don’t plan to change anything.”