Nestled in the rolling hills of Pescadero, a town located two miles from the coast with a population of less than 600, is Arcangeli Grocery Co. Old-timey tunes play throughout the store, adorned with wooden shelves full of local goods. Beyond the deli in the back, loaves of bread fill the air with a gourmet fragrance.

The specialty grocer has been offering the residents of this charming enclave everything from produce to meats to fresh jams since 1929. But for decades, one unusual item at Arcangeli’s has outshone the rest: artichoke garlic-herb bread.

The family-run business started making bread in the 1970s out of necessity. Arcangeli’s was once a premier grocery store, but the emergence of supermarkets led to stiff competition. Being tucked away almost 50 miles south of San Francisco, the family knew they needed to find their niche in order to stick out.

“Because we’re out on the coast, we were kind of lost in people’s minds a lot of the time. So they were dropping old bread here,” said Chris Benedetti, who represents the fifth generation of the family. “We were like, ‘We can do this and provide a fresher product for our customers.’”

With their trusted KitchenAid mixer, Arcangeli’s began its bread baking endeavors by making two loaves at a time. But as word of mouth spread, higher demand led the family to purchase better equipment. Suddenly, two loaves turned into six, and bread eventually grew to become the heart of the business. 

“It just kind of blossomed,” Benedetti said. “Now, it’s probably the signature of our business.”

When the store first started making bread, a customer could choose from four varieties. Five decades later, that number has jumped to nearly 70. One in particular, however, has stood the test of time and continues to serve as Arcangeli’s main attraction — the artichoke garlic-herb bread.

“We started making the garlic-herb sourdough loaves for our artichoke community. There’s a lot of artichoke farms here,” said Chris' father, Mike Benedetti — current owner of Arcangeli’s. “So my dad said, ‘Why don’t we try putting some artichokes into the garlic-herb bread?’ And it just took off from there.”

Historically, the surrounding area is known as the epicenter of the country’s artichoke production, largely thanks to Italian farmers. Arcangeli’s unconventional, yet undeniably delicious, artichoke bread provides visitors with a taste of the family’s — and town’s — history. Plus, it’s just really damn good.

The loaf’s aroma is enough to draw you in, but a bite into the buttery, herb-decorated crust gives way to much more. The crisp crust collapses into itself, leaving the bread’s homey flavors to do the rest.

Standing outside of the store on a sunny summer afternoon, it was evident that the artichoke bread is in the driver’s seat of the company’s success. Two out of every three visitors who left the store that day had a loaf in hand. People from all over the Bay Area commute to the little town just to get their hands on the prized commodity.

“We come to the store for the bread,” said Kelley, a visitor who added she likes taking day trips to Pescadero on a bimonthly basis. “It’s easy to eat, good, warm and a good tasting treat.”

Others even physically exert themselves to make it out to the store that’s been located on Stage Road for nearly a century. 

“I’ve been coming here for years. It’s the whole reason I make it down here,” said Dick Banfield, a road cyclist who biked over the hills all the way from the Peninsula. 

Beyond the Bay Area, Arcangeli’s reputation extends to global levels. Waves of international tourists visit the store, eager to get their hands on the signature fragrant bread. Mike and Chris said they both have experienced moments overseas that made them realize just how far the family’s recipes traveled. 

“My wife and I were at the airport in Frankfurt waiting to get on a plane to come back,” Mike Benedetti said. “There were people standing in line for [security] and there were a couple of people in front of us that had our T-shirt on. And I said, ‘Oh, we know that place.’ They said, ‘Oh, do you know that place?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m the owner!’”

Chris Benedetti has received comments of his own while sporting the shirt, leaving him surprised at the reach Arcangeli’s has from Pescadero.

Chris Benedetti holdss artichoke garlic-herb bread, the specialty at Arcangeli Grocery Co. in Pescadero, Calif. on Aug. 31, 2022.

”It’s just all word of mouth,” he said. “Somebody comes, gets an awesome loaf of bread, tells the next person. And then that person comes, gets an awesome loaf of bread, and so on and so forth.”

But what makes Arcangeli’s artichoke garlic-herb bread so special is that it’s crafted in small batches, without the use of heavy equipment, except for the bakery’s stand mixers. Bread baking is a family ritual where Chris Benedetti said everyone is directly involved. 

“Everything’s hand-rolled, everything’s made one at a time,” he said. “... It’s very much just hands on. We’re prideful in what we do, we love what we do and we love our history — and we just kind of want to keep that going.”

Unlike most traditional bakeries, Arcangeli’s adopted its own tried and true baking methods. A lot of morning prep, for example, gives the family the chance to allow for a two-day rise, where they place the raw dough in coolers to slow down the rising process. It’s a technique they developed throughout the years.

“We feel like that helps develop better crust and a better quality and texture of the bread,” Chris Benedetti said. “Kind of gives more of a chance for that yeast to really just do its thing, its magic.”

And instead of baking all of their delicious loaves in the morning, production is a continual process. When the bakery is in full swing, the bread comes out hot every 10 minutes and is kept warm right behind the register, waiting for customers who want to experience a fresh loaf firsthand. 

Still, how many loaves sold each day remains a bit of a mystery. 

“That’s more of a family secret,” Chris Benedetti said, with a laugh. “We tell people it’s a lot.”

While making “a lot” of bread keeps customers happy and has established Arcangeli’s as a staple of Pescadero, such a routine comes at a cost. Mike Benedetti said it’s not cost-effective. His son agrees.

“We don’t make a lot of money doing what we do, we do it because we love what we do,” Chris Benedetti said. “… We’re not in it to get rich. We’ve never been rich. It’s just kind of, really, we enjoy the food and we enjoy the people and we’re in this to kind of be good people, you know, a positive influence in this world.”

This aspiration to provide to the community is inspired by a tale of the store’s origins, way back in 1929.

After immigrating from Italy and working his way across the country on the railroad, Sante Arcangeli opened what was then called Pescadero Bakery and Grocery. Two years later, he decided to move across the street into the building Arcangeli Grocery Co. currently occupies. However, he was a few thousand dollars short on credit. 

It didn’t matter. A local customer walked in and put a bag on the table; it was filled with enough money for Sante to pay for the building entirely. Built on generosity, Arcangeli Grocery Co. has aimed to reciprocate that to the community with each generation.

“We want it to be paid back tenfold,” Chris Benedetti said.

The store and family behind it has done perhaps more than that. When wildfires threatened Pescadero, Mike Benedetti stuck around to make sandwiches for the firefighters, even with the store closed. 

His father, the third generation to run the business, started the Pescadero Little League. Arcangeli’s philanthropy has reached local schools and sports teams, whether in the form of food and money or by providing equipment and uniforms for youth programs. The family has also aided surrounding businesses during floods and earthquakes. 

And while the Benedettis have served their community behind the scenes for nearly a century, the business has seen a similar parallel on the other side of the counter. 

Some of Chris Beneditti’s favorite memories at the store were when he was a kid sampling fresh pastries and being surrounded by the smell of his family’s breads. Now, he gets to watch others do the same.

“I’ve talked to generations of families up front and they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m bringing my kid this time and I used to come with my dad when I was little and get artichoke bread,’” Benedetti said. “It’s those kind of stories that really kind of keep you going. It’s just that passion and the love of what our family has accomplished.”

Despite acting as a beloved constant in the community, Arcangeli’s has actually seen substantial change over the years.

It originally opened as a premier grocery store where the clerk would gather items on a customer’s shopping list and hand it to them. But as supermarkets emerged in the 1950s, the business couldn’t quite compete with its new competitors and was forced to evolve.

“My grandfather says he remembers when they put in the aisles for groceries, people didn’t know what to do at first,” Chris Benedetti said. “They were so used to having people pick groceries out for them, they were really confused.”

After his father Mike took over, the store oversaw another change. Arcangeli’s began to take on the identity of a specialty food market, a title that the family feels holds true today. Emphasis has been placed on the deli and baked goods, which has in turn brought in customers from all over the world.

However, the pandemic has thrown business for another loop. The family continues to navigate the day to day with less foot traffic coming through and labor shortages leaving the store unable to open up for regular hours. 

Mike Benedetti chalks it up to another change the next generation will have to endure. But he remains optimistic that his family’s little bakery and deli will adapt and continue to hand-roll the soft and flavorful loaves that many have grown to enjoy through the decades.

“We’re still just trying to do what we can for the community and our customers so that you can bring your kids 20 years from now and still get the same loaf of bread,” Chris Benedetti said. “I still have that memory, and to be able to share that with your family, that’s all we really hope.”

Arcangeli Grocery Co., 287 Stage Road, Pescadero. Open every day except Tuesday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Zach Zafran is an editorial intern at SFGATE. Born and raised in the Bay Area, he recently completed his freshman year at Stanford University where he's the managing editor of The Stanford Daily's sports section. Email: zach.zafran@sfgate.com