OUR STORY
For over 100 years, the Carvalho family has been baking sweet and savory delights to satisfy all of their customers. Started in 1908 by Francesco Carvalho who wanted to share his talent for baking and his passion for food, it was first located at Falkland Road, Grant Road and was called American Express.
Francesco's son, Joseph, went into the family business expanding it to include catering and imports of specialty foods such as cured meats and cheese from Europe. The bakery was nicknamed American Express due to its speedy delivery of its goods to American cruise ships. The name stuck and the bakery was renamed American Express Bakery The bakery relocated to Byculla around 1935 where is still stands proudly as AEB House. AEB House is one of the few heritage structures in Mumbai that is still a wrought iron building. By this time the expansion of the bakery included outlets at Colaba, Cumballa Hill, Bandra, and Santacruz. The Colaba branch was shut down during the war due to rationing.
1950 onwards, AEB was run by Bertha Carvalho, wife of Joseph Carvalho.
Having suddenly left widowed and alone to run a business solely comprised of men and in a generation where the working woman was not the norm, she took the reins until her eldest son Ross Carvalho was old enough to take over.
Today, the bakery still has Ross and Lilia Carvalho at the helm, but all aspects of day to day operations is taken care of by their son's Emil and Yvan. The youngest son Yohann is involved in the business aspect. The current Carvalho cousins, though all under 16, can all be found during the holidays eating, helping, and learning to continue the tradition.