How Fiorentini Built One of New Jersey’s Most Authentic Italian Restaurant Experiences

Speaker 1: Nice to meet you.

Speaker 3: And you could switch this up. You could do couches. You could take this table out, put couches. You know, it depends on the vibe you want.

Speaker 2: Very cool.

Speaker 3: Oscar Rook. ⁓ there we go. Okay, good. I just have to see myself. Okay, three, two, one. Welcome everybody back to the Brand to Table podcast. I'm your host, Henry Kaminsky Jr., your go-to for restaurant marketing and branding. And today, we have some amazing guests. I recently visited their restaurant for my wife's birthday and they blew our socks off. So without further ado, want to introduce Antonio and Brenda Diesso from Florentini in Rutherford, New Jersey.

Speaker 1: That's it is, it's true. If I was to my wife first.

Speaker 3: What is going on guys?

Speaker 2: Everything's fine, I mean, we are very excited about being here and looking forward to all the questions you may have and things that we want to share.

Speaker 3: You don't know, but I'm actually writing a book. No, I'm kidding. But that's why I have so many questions. I get teased a lot by my guests. They're like, what is with all these questions?

Speaker 1: Bring as many as you can, please.

Speaker 3: I'm like it's a podcast you're supposed to ask questions right, but real quick I know you know we were filming this the weekend after the week after the big food and wine festival up in Crystal Springs Where I live I live up in Sparta. I know you guys were there you have a great presence there Talk to me about that. How was it this year?

Speaker 1: It was very good this year actually. I saw a lot more upcoming places and we were there with two of our places. So we were there with Fiorentini, of course, our farm to table, and with Ingranum, our latest concept, which is the Italian high quality bread and baking goods. Whole sales production, so we only sell to businesses in the Tri-State area at the moment. And no, it was great. It was really good times. we were blown away. We ran out of food like very fast. We were out. So then we switched altogether to the other place. And no, it was very exciting. was very exciting.

Speaker 3: I was there last year and I made the biggest mistake ever. I said I'm going to a food and wine festival with my wife I'm not gonna eat all day because I'm gonna eat there well I Forgot that the portions aren't as big. Yeah, so and the drinks come fast and furious So by like 11 o'clock, I was shot And I was like I was looking for anything to eat And I'll never forget it. We were coming into this big atrium area, It's kind of like semi outdoor or whatever with all the windows. And David Burke station was there and he had all this bacon. I never ate so much bacon in my life. Just to get me through the.

Speaker 1: the tower yes we were there with Ingram

Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, so it was I had such a blast I'm so pissed I missed it this year I had a communion to go to and there was no way wifey and I were missing that communion so ⁓ Work, I can't wait Yeah, exactly. So We'll be there next year for sure ⁓ So let's get into your backstory. Shall we so both of you are from Florence Italy? Right and you've you you?

Speaker 1: That's good, every year there is one. We never miss it. experience.

Speaker 3: You actually grew up not too far from each other but met each other here in the states when you guys both came over.

Speaker 1: That's correct. Absolutely. I do what you do.

Speaker 2: I'll my part, you do yours. So I was born in Peru and I was raised in Florence. All my life I went to school there and then I came in to the US, I think by now it's going to be almost 20 years. Wow, that's fast. I've been living here. So next year will be...

Speaker 1: You do your parts first.

Speaker 2: the year where I've lived here the most out of everywhere else in the world, guess. But I guess I am still like Florentine at heart and obviously Peruvian in my soul as well. But Antonio born and raised in Florence. We actually went to school basically like a mile apart from each other. But we never crossed paths in Florence. And Florence, it's just like a tiny city. Everybody knows each other. Like the places where the teenagers hang out is the same places because, you know, it's tiny. Now it's grown much more, but 30 years ago it was like different. We met in New York at an event and it's ⁓ crazy how when I was looking for, we were looking for the name for Fiorentini, ⁓ we came up with a bunch of things and nothing really resonated, because then you have to ⁓ think about how Americans will pronounce it and this and that. I wanted it be one word and nothing really came that it felt like it was us. ⁓ by my house just waiting at the light and I'm like why don't we just call it Fiorentini? That's where we're from you know I mean it's just I think that if something can unite us both ⁓ it's definitely you know our hometown like Florence.

Speaker 1: I remember she gives me a call and she's like, I have the name. Say, go ahead. She say home. I'm like, what do mean home? Yeah, no, mean Fiorentini. I was like.

Speaker 3: That's it. That's perfect. It just cl-

Speaker 1: This is our home. Yeah, I got it. Let's go

Speaker 3: And tell everybody, so Fiorentini means home?

Speaker 1: So Fiorentini means citizen of Florence. That's what I thought. So coming back from there, was the reasoning of having a common starting point for everything we wanted to do. The project, the ideas, which is way bigger than Fiorentini, but it's still behind the scene.

Speaker 3: So talk to me about the restaurant guys. What? How do you describe the restaurant? I want to hear from you guys because I have my own point of view.

Speaker 1: Absolutely, no, I think it's very important because it's good to send it out as many times as we can, the real understanding of Fiorentini. Here there is the wording, farm to tables. But the way I grow up, and it's the only way I know how to operate, it's kilometers zero. That's the way we call it in Italy. So everyone goes to Italy and says, wow, food is amazing, it's so good, it's so fresh. We're not fancy in sense of. Number one, our ingredients list in Italy. We're so lucky. A small little country with the highest number of vegetables, highest numbers of fruits, biggest production of olive oils, wines, you name it, right? So we have good products. We don't go looking for something coming out from other countries or nothing. We go kilometer zero. What's next to you, work with that. And most of everything, seasonal. You don't look for strawberry in winter. You don't look for strawberry in any other season as long as it's not summer. Same for any other ingredients. So the only way I wanted to do a restaurant was I look at my wife, I say, okay, it's COVID. Think about this. Yeah. And ⁓ we are all layoff. She's layoff. I'm partially layoff. I was the director at Metropolitan Opera. ⁓ my job was secure.

Speaker 3: 2020 yeah

Speaker 1: They gave me the letter, everything passed, you come back here, you're good, you're set. I knew I wanted to open something. So I look at my wife, she was on the couch, and I say, baby, I have an idea. She say, go ahead. I say, you know what we do, we're going to refinance our house. Because the percentage they pay are now, it's perfect. So we got very low interest in the house. We take all the equity. We ask some friends and family if we have to, our reserve, and we open a restaurant. My wife Luvian may say, sorry? She say, well, no, you know when a woman say what? Like, ⁓ rephrase yourself, please. But because I'm so stubborn, I don't rephrase myself. So I repeat the same exact thing. She's like, you're nuts.

Speaker 2: Crazy.

Speaker 3: Sounds like my wife

Speaker 1: Yeah, no, she's like, forget about it, like, don't even mention it again. And I keep going. I'm serious. I'm like, we're going to do it.

Speaker 3: And you're serious.

Speaker 2: I bet told me do not open a restaurant with your husband It'll be the worst mistake you ever make and you will be divorced in three months. Hmm. So it was like no way we're doing this

Speaker 1: And they were like, no, I'm gonna divorce you. She say, it's like, you're gonna make us lose everything. No, absolutely no. So here goes weeks of trying to convince her, you know, and going back and forth until she's like, okay, I'm do it, but I don't want anything to do with it. And I was like, come on, we do it together, we don't do it. She's like, well, I'm gonna be behind the scene. I say, okay, fair enough.

Speaker 2: So initially, my background comes from hospitality as well, but I used to do high-end events, social events for like...

Speaker 1: Which by the way was perfect, you know, you match it. Yes!

Speaker 3: It's a perfect man-

Speaker 2: Yeah, so a lot of the clientels for the company that I work for New York City based. So, you know, parties where people spend a million dollars or more sometimes. So I loved what I did. So it was very hard for me while covered to just, you know, accept that everything that I worked so hard for and got to the point that I got, ⁓ you know, it was just gone because I mean, my industry was the last one to come into. to play back. you know, it was a rough time. went through, I would say, like a serious depression time.

Speaker 1: I was excited, I was doing construction in the backyard. That was vacation.

Speaker 2: The other hand, he's hyperactive, so he needs to be doing a thousand things at the same time. While I was literally subbing every day, he was just like, you know, building things in the house and things like that. So, you know, at some point I was like, when is this ever gonna be ending? I gave up because obviously he's very insistent and very convincing. I do trust him. And at that moment, the only thing I knew, because obviously I don't come from restaurant industry, ⁓ the only thing I knew is that he's very good with numbers. And so that made me say yes. And nothing else, honestly. I didn't think of like, obviously he's very skilled cooking, but that's not the only thing that you need in a restaurant. And so my thing was primarily he's good with numbers, somehow we'll make this work. And I was like, you know what, I'm gonna design it, because that's my thing, I'm going to help them get in going, and then once this is all over, I'll go back to my industry and do what I love and blah blah blah. And then obviously, little by little, although it took a long time, I adjusted to this industry and I've learned to love it. Some days more, some days less. The first.

Speaker 1: She still does what she loves. We do a lot of events.

Speaker 2: ⁓ I do a lot of events there too and so in the beginning it was really rough like the first three months I cried every day because people can be obnoxious especially when they don't know any better and I think it all comes down to not being one best and the other but it just comes down into educating people on what are the differences between American Italian cuisine which is great and there are so many great options in the state for that and

Speaker 1: Starbite defined as a cuisine. And differentiate one from the other one. Which is what we try to do since we opened the door with all the newspapers because it's like, not that we care. It's like, if you don't want to do an Italian section, it's fine. But do not pair an Italian real restaurants next to an American. But American Italian. Same for French next to American French. Same for Japanese next to American Japanese. You know, they are different cuisines. Anyway, going back to your questions, sorry, we'll...

Speaker 2: which he writes an authentic.

Speaker 3: No, I love it. This is great.

Speaker 1: Yeah. And so we start, we got up and running, call our realtor. She finds our house, you know, She finds a few spots here and there. No, this doesn't work. This doesn't work. We were about to open in Montclair. And Chestnut Street. Talk to the guy. He owns the building. It's Italian. Last minute change of the plans. I say, no, I don't like this. Sorry. We're working out. My realtor called me and said, listen, there is a place that went on fire. It's empty. Maybe you want to take a look on it. I'm looking at the numbers, fire, fire is a lot of problem. We have a budget. No, we can't do that. I'm sorry. Let's keep looking. Three, four days after I call her and I say, you know what, just let me take a look at it. Maybe there is no big damage. We entered the door. I discovered the place when on fire was the next door because it was one suppression system only. I'm One, ⁓ ancillary system only. no answer. No, not the sprinkler one sprinkler system only the water went to damage the place where Fiorentini is nowadays So not big problem. It was only water evaporated. They took out everything. So it was a black canvas I enter I do a tour around I start envisioning I get to the door. I look at the land or I look at my realtor Where do I sign like that? My wife is like whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Wait Was I no no we sign and say let's do the deal And she's like, are you sure? I say, pause it. I already saw it.

Speaker 2: Now, the only reason why we went through it is... We've never been to Rutherford before, so I had no idea. He lived in New York all the time that he's been here, he was just recently moved to Jersey when we got married and bought the house. And when we bought the house, it was kind of the same scenario. So he worked at Opera, so he worked crazy hours there, and I would go with the realtor to look at the houses and such and such. I fell in love with one house that it was like a block away from our house.

Speaker 3: idea to pass.

Speaker 2: And when the house got sold and I was like just like, I want the house. I don't want anything else, blah, blah, acting like crazy.

Speaker 1: I was like we don't pay an house over price it doesn't make sense it's mathematical

Speaker 2: Yeah, and then like I just a couple weeks later. He found another home a block away from this one and he looked at it. He said

Speaker 1: I only look at the picture it wasn't on the market for another month so they only post the picture but through the picture I envision it.

Speaker 2: Yes, and so he goes I'll make this house better than the one you saw I promise you and so he did and When he entered and when the moment he looked at his house he was like this is the one so when we enter Fiorentini like in Rutherford the location he did exactly the same thing and Then he started telling me the numbers on how is like the lowest percent trade and we needed this and blah blah blah and that it made sense so I I trusted him and and and he really was I mean, we love Rutherford. People are, even though 90 % of my clientele is not from Rutherford, we love the people there, the town. It's just a beautiful place.

Speaker 1: Then there was another main reason. It was a dry town. So I was coming from New York. My conception of going out as a diner, it was a New York conception. It wasn't a New Jersey one. Then I changed it with the times. But at that time I was, okay, what if I want to go out for dinner, where do I go? So I say, go with the restaurant where there is a record license. Because I don't want to bring my bottle, I'm going to forget, I want a cocktail. So I say, but...

Speaker 2: back there.

Speaker 1: Hold on a second, that means that whoever is gonna come as a guest is gonna choose someone else prior to me if I don't have the liquor license. And you know liquor license prices in New Jersey are to the roof. That is wrong. So I say, how do I solve these issues? Dry town. No one has the liquor license. It's your food versus my food. And that's how we're gonna nail it. And that is the main reason I choose RollerFord. ⁓ my Then it changed. Yeah. You they do a referendum, they approve new liquor license, but by then our name was already gone. You know, we were already.

Speaker 2: And to be honest, we had the chance to purchase a liquor license by now, but we did not buy a choice. And one, obviously it is a lot of money and it's just the two of us. are 100 % owners of Fiorentini. And two, we saw how much people really love the BYO. And so instead of actually losing clientele because of it, we gained so much because people are so used to just, you know, and they spend more on food. so until now we might do it eventually if we still have the chance, as of right now, it really did not affect our business at all. And so we decided to just.

Speaker 3: Right or

Speaker 1: Anyway, here we are, COVID, we signed the lease, we refinanced the house, got a beautiful percentage, start working on the place. Lock it down, no one knows who we are, everything is obscure. We just put out a great idea my wife had, and it's this big banner with four different little sketch that every little in a while, we didn't have a perfect timing, but whenever we knew we were accomplishing a good step, we will unreveal the next sketch.

Speaker 2: So it was like a so my so my thought it was like we were nobody we we you know basically just two people who decided, husband and wife, who decided to open up this restaurant. Yes, he had a great curriculum, but at the end of the day, nobody knows us in New Jersey. you know, we don't come from background of ⁓ restaurateurs and nothing. So I said, like, how can we make the biggest impact and start creating expectation in what's coming? And so we designed this banner. It was huge, like 10 feet tall. And we put it right over the at Fiorentini. So every person that was driving by or walking by will see one square of this sketch that I will unveil every once in a while. And it was a design where it was almost like it's arriving and then it's landing. then so it was really cool and it created a lot of expectation and people just started on the Facebook page of the town. They were like, what's coming here and what is this and what is that? And so we had everything covered until ⁓ halloween no yeah yeah

Speaker 1: Halloween so we open November 17 November 18 okay and Halloween so 18 days prior it's where we unreveal the name by then there was already a bus

Speaker 2: Yes, giving out candy to the kids that day. So was a great way to meet ⁓ the people and it was awesome.

Speaker 1: And here we are, COVID, we signed the lease, we put the deposits, my wife comes back home with up and downs. It's like, are we going to have guests? Is someone going come inside the restaurant? Yeah, know, and like, love it. We did this job for other people. You, your industry, me, my industry. Why can't we do it for us? You know, and I was like so, so secure about what we're going to do. It's confident. Comes the day of the opening, we limit reservations. It's like, let's learn to walk before we run.

Speaker 2: Is one person going to show up?

Speaker 1: Waiting lines. Waiting lines for months. Like people wanted to come, we couldn't. Okay? So then we start and we're racing. 20 % extra, 20 % extra, 20 % extra, 20 % extra. Now, by that time the team was solid, was secure, people ⁓ knew how to do what they had to do. Our goal was, and here we go back to your question, our goal was to deliver an experience. difference, a real Italian experience. Hospitality, it's more than just a job. It's something like the way I interview my guys when they come to work, say, do you do if a woman, an old woman is crossing the street? And it's like, I don't know. It's like there you see what hospitality is. It's more than just service, you know. It's a way of want to share with others. Okay, so the first call we do is we don't want people with industry experience.

Speaker 2: cater all the

Speaker 1: Zero. We want people with a sense of hospitality. I can teach you the job. I cannot teach you to be a good human being. And with that philosophy, we grow up Fiorentini. We grow up, we grow up, we grow up until we find people that more match our needs, that more understand our philosophy. Now, menu. Menu has to be like in Italy. Nothing difference. First rules of every big chef in Italy. Ingredients. Once you find the good ingredients, you don't cut.

Speaker 2: Yeah, like I hear all the time here, like people make and make pastas and it's awesome, right? But it goes back to what kind of flour are you using? Yeah, because if you're using flour that it's not refined or the way it should be, you are just giving me something better wrapped in, you know, like a nice.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Speaker 1: Nice package.

Speaker 3: Yeah, lipstick on a pen. Correct. Right?

Speaker 1: Correct.

Speaker 2: Wrong but that's the main thing is the ingredient

Speaker 1: We import our flowers. We import our olive oil. And then we import the main ingredients that only Italy can do. Parmigiano reggiano, not parmesan. Prosciutto italiano, not prosciutto from who knows where. The ingredients we're famous for. The rest, we are in the garden states. ⁓ Farmer here, they can cover the entire USA needs. So we start looking for farmers. But then we start going into that one. OK, what farmer? Because we are. talking about not having something wrapped up with lipsticks, but we have to do the same concept on farming. What about if it's a farm that doesn't do something good in it? So we start discovering regenerative farming. Farmers, they only focus on nature practices. No pesticides, no chemicals, no nothing.

Speaker 2: The health of the soil naturally. Then obviously what the animal is going to eat, it's natural, therefore you are what you eat.

Speaker 1: How works this cycle? No, you are what you eat eight Which is more deep than the rest So it's a cycle if you have an healthy soil you have an healthy products It could be a grass could be a vegetable. It could be a flowers and fruits. Whatever you want. If he's an healthy grass Animal is gonna help eat healthy food now animal is gonna make an healthy products which goes back to the soil and that's how you get your circle, you know, right? Start from the ground. So and there we are

Speaker 2: Yes.

Speaker 3: It starts from there. So, ground.

Speaker 2: the ground.

Speaker 1: We discover our farmers. Now guess what? They have a problem. They don't work with restaurants. They are farm to door. So they work with privates. They deliver it to your doors, but they have no intent to work with restaurant because restaurant needs are usually, I send you an order on the nights and the farmer is like, you can send me an order on nights. We would come here at three, four a.m. in the morning. We cut the crop, we take everything from there. And then we have to organize, we have a small group of ⁓ farmers. I say, okay, how can I work with you? And he's like well you need to be taking upon all your risk and he's like what you mean well you need to plan your orders in a way that's it works for you for the week but then if you don't have it you don't have it otherwise you have to go more and then if you lose it you lose it's your problem so you know what let's do it I'm gonna take home the rest we have to eat soon no so it's like okay we can try and we

Speaker 2: And then another thing is that chefs are used to, you know, build up a menu that, let's be honest, most of them are there forever. They don't really change, right? And for many, many reasons. And there is nothing really to blame. It's just that we decided to do something different. So they get it from anywhere they can, at whatever cost, because they have it on their menu and they have to deliver. But a lot of people don't realize that that is also... you know, not cost effective. So a lot of people, you know, tell us like, ⁓ how do you manage to get this pricing, you know, when you have all these ingredients that are seasonal? Well, I'm not paying $7 for tomato in the winter or strawberry. Like, it's just, you know, actually, if you were to want to learn more, it is much better. Not only you are delivering on a product that is fresh, but it's also less costly. Obviously.

Speaker 1: Broccoli rub. They go up and down in the market based on the season. You can get a case for $20 and then the same cases cost $55.

Speaker 2: Yeah, but at the same regards, right? ⁓ It takes a lot of skills for you to change a menu every three months. I actually do not know many restaurants in the state that do so. Nothing stays, no matter how much it sells. In the beginning, it was like, I came back so far away, what do you mean you don't have this? It's just not seasonal. We feature tomatoes only in the summer. mean, Jersey has the best tomatoes. you know, it's only about wanting to be adapted to what the demand of the farmers are. And he builds a new menu before the season even starts. He starts talking to them on what the crop is going to be, how the weather's been, what he was able to grow and whatnot. And from there, in the winter, it's very, very tricky. There's only a certain amount of ingredients that are available. Sometimes 15, 12, and out of those 15, 12, He has to come up with 21, 22 dishes that are one different than the other. So it's something that obviously not a lot of chefs are capable to do or want to even do because it's a lot of work. By the time my guys learn to prep one dish by memory in the kitchen, guess what? It's about to turn it over and the same for the front of the house. So it's not an easy labor.

Speaker 3: So you turned into part farmer. You're part farmer.

Speaker 1: Push man, it's like the only truth behind Farentini is artwork.

Speaker 3: So this brings me into my next question. Authenticity. A lot of people throw this word around. I get sick by it. I want to know how you define the word and how you live through it.

Speaker 1: Absolutely, great questions. Authentic, it's part of our brand. It's Fiorentini, Authentic Farm Table ⁓ So that's name. And ⁓ authenticity has be ⁓ you. ⁓ Like, there is gonna be, let's cut to the chase, and we all this. ⁓ Inside ourselves, we all know this. In any industry, there is shortcuts. ⁓ There is always So ⁓ I think that authenticity stands into no one to take shortcut ⁓ and take the hard road. And the abroad cost, sacrifice, cost money. Trust me, I have PharmaX, pasta rice, free cage, just free, since I opened the door. Never change for a second, okay? There was a time where colleagues were like, are you crazy? You're paying six and a quarter, six and three quarters, seven dollars per dozen? So you can get it from Cisco for 2.99, 1.99, depends on whatever season you have. And I'm like, okay, can you those rags raw? Would you do that? I say, you can mine. I say, absolutely. I never had a problem. My kids are growing with these eggs, you know?

Speaker 2: And trust me, sometimes I do wish we would have taken some easier roads because this thing of changing the menu three months is exhausting. It's exhausting, it's very demanding for him as well. It's not like you can just close your eyes. Because now in the beginning, people were very upset about not finding their dish. came back from God only knows where. We have a lot of people that travel from very far away. ⁓ they were like, what do you mean you don't have it? And now, you know, little by little people started understanding the culture and the reasoning behind it. And I think like, it all comes down to that. If you explain to the consumer, to the customer, why do you do this? Then people start appreciating what you do. And therefore we saw every single time he changed the menu, there is a spike on reservations and people were like, I can't wait to see. and I can't wait to try what you do next menu. And it creates a rotation of people telling us, know, in the beginning, I had customers that came like four times in a month, like that was basically one every week. And our menu was even shorter than what it is now. It was really small. I was like asking him like, ⁓ my God, what are we gonna give him now? Like they tried everything now. And ⁓ one day I asked him like, ⁓ know, I don't know like what you're gonna eat today.

Speaker 1: We did what we had.

Speaker 2: He looked at me and he kind of clicked for me in that moment and he goes like, what do you mean? Like, I've came to retry this, re-eat this because it's just so awesome. And you know, I don't care. Like I'll come back for the next menu to try whatever he's done the next season. But if I come back within the same period of time of the season is because I really do love it and I want to have it. So I understood that people really appreciate it and started, you know, understanding the culture and and the difference between the taste of a natural and seasonal product and not so.

Speaker 1: Yeah, and to reinforce authenticity is, it's truly like, we push ourselves every menu, okay, we can get better. But then also how, if it's so challenging, maybe there is a way we don't know now and we can make this one less challenging. Okay, so we work into that one all the times. The real authenticity we have, first of all, versus everything before the brand, it's to the hard work. It's like we never stop to say people, guys. Work is war. Like if it was a pleasure, it wouldn't be called work. So let's start from that concept, and then we can push ourself. Because you can only grow if you believe that you can grow. And that's what we do. And then authenticity is to stay within our guidelines all the times. All the times. We decide to deliver this name, we have to keep it that way.

Speaker 3: Yeah. Mmm. All right, so let's get into some hospitality because I want to understand you guys have great dynamic backgrounds You know you come from private events and upscale private events you come from culinary side now. You're a farmer Whether you like it or not right, but you but you you have quite a vision too because we just had some real estate brokers on the other day and I was saying what do you do when when a client comes in and their gut and their emotions take over and it may not be the right choice. Like how do you help them? Right? So that was last episode. We're not gonna muddy this episode with that. But you saw it and you said, that's it. I'm going in and you just went. So let's get into hospitality, right? One of the things that I noticed when I was there was everyone from the hostess, from the busser to Everybody was on the same page. So I want to know sort of what hospitality means from each of you, because I know it's not the same.

Speaker 1: Yeah, let's do the lady first. Sure.

Speaker 2: So. I think what we focus a lot is into just being genuine, right? But we basically choose our employees based on their personality. Not even, like he explained before, not even on their experience because on paper we all are gray. But at the end of the day, you have to really, and we train them to make them understand the impact of a good and a bad experience and what good hospitality is. ⁓ mock-ups with them and we train them that way. and then the way when we train them you know we see maybe some of the things that they need to trick and they need to better and so we gave them examples of how to do that and then you know make them just understand that these are people that they can be their guests at their own home and how would you treat them when they come through your door. So exactly that same mentality is really not you know nothing crazy for us, it's just the way we are raised. And so we want to share that everything at Fiorentini is the extension of who we are and what we believe in.

Speaker 1: Yeah, that's absolutely true. If we invite people home, you get the same. No differences. Same food, same hospitality. It's just who we are.

Speaker 3: You think it's cultural? Because I do. do.

Speaker 1: Absolutely.

Speaker 2: And in that regard, South America and Italy, in general, everything is around the table. I have a nice living couch, but people gather in the kitchen and I think that's really a very European thing and it's just the way we are brought up.

Speaker 1: We are around the table. So everything she say absolutely truth. In addition to that, what I think it makes our hospitality the way it is, it's when we start with a new person, we had to walk her or him into our philosophy. So he comes down to really, really work a lot into make men understand why we do what we do. And then it comes down to another important things. ⁓ Like you do with a kid, right? You had to share with them the experience. had to them, you had to... take them with the hands and create a path for them. Guide them. Guide them. Correct. So what we say all the time is like, guys, this may not be your jobs, but why do you have to be poor in something in life? Be great at what you do. It doesn't matter if it's your job or not. Just be great because you're going to be remembered as great. OK. And I say you might not be the owner of these restaurants, but yes, you are the owner of your own place or your own work. You know, who you are, the way you're gonna live or the way you're gonna stay, it's only and only gonna depend by you, your own actions. Then there is a phrase in my life that really, really impact me from a background I come and is how you are born is not your fault, how you die it is. And so I always say to them, make sure you build your own path.

Speaker 3: So let me get that again when you were born

Speaker 2: The way, in other words, the way that you are, don't choose how and where or with who are you born. Some people are like here than other ones, but you do choose how and they, you choose your path, you choose your growth, you know, so that's what we try to share.

Speaker 3: I love this show because I have people on like you on it because I learned I'm gonna I'm never gonna forget that one that one is such a I'm like getting I'm like welling up over here because It is such a that one hit me hard because we all come from humble backgrounds. Yeah

Speaker 1: It ain't changed my life. Yeah.

Speaker 2: Yes, and I think in that regard, I mean especially him, he grew up in a foster home and you know, so he had to basically build his life. so however his life started, he did not have a choice in that, but he's choosing every day to, you know, to build a... his own path and growing his own ways. And so that's how we share authenticity. That's how we share hospitality also to whoever, you know, encounter us.

Speaker 3: I love it. I love it so much. Let me ask you this. So what do the guests not see in the restaurant that you guys obsess over?

Speaker 2: A lot. A lot. A lot and not a lot because you know in the beginning obviously we were very new and we still are I mean it's it's a new still new restaurant we're gonna be open five years now a lot of people told me if you pass the two years you're golden now you know but we don't think about that we have the mentality to treat the restaurant first of all the restaurant is like a person in my household Nothing comes before the restaurant. me, not my kids, nothing. Not even his own health sometimes. And it can be a very toxic environment, let's be real, especially when you are under pressure on changing and doing all of these things and keeping up with what you build is the hardest thing. Consistency is the hardest thing. So Fiorentini is the main person in our life and everything revolves around it. Now we also have Ingranum. ⁓ So it's an adjustment, but it's also the way you raise your kids to start appreciating the hard work and to value the things that they're able to leave because of this hard work. it's just the way we conduct ourselves.

Speaker 1: Yeah, but I mean, even if he's his own person, then it doesn't mean like he has to change too, you know? So he has to become part of our life. that toxic part has to disappear, you know? It's an adjustment process. So how do we make this healthy? And let's be honest, rest of the industry, it's to the hardest point it's ever been. know, cost to the roof, ⁓ ethic to the lowest points ever. People, it doesn't matter the industry you're in, it's...

Speaker 2: Yeah

Speaker 3: now.

Speaker 1: if they even show up to the interview, that's something great. When I grew up into this industry, if you don't show up, they will come to pick you up at house just to literally kick you. then now you can go. It's like, you will be Mark in the industry. Like you will be Mark. Don't take this person. Now it's everything at low. Everything is like, yeah, everything changed. So I'm not saying before was better than now. Now it's better than before. But I say you need to adjust. You need to grow. and you need to make the best out of what you have. And that's the goal we always...

Speaker 2: So sometimes people don't see the struggles. think most of the time people don't see the struggles, you know. People look at you, they maybe have an opinion about you, but at the end of day, we are just, know, working very hard, you know, on social media, you can show whatever you want them to see, at the end of the day, having a restaurant, no matter who that is, it's sacrifice. It's a lot of struggle, lot of struggle. Yeah. Right. Right.

Speaker 1: is the life of nowadays. You only see the beauty, never see the struggle.

Speaker 3: Right so that brings me to some marketing conversation some marketing questions because I understand you guys take care of all of that on your own Yep, Brenda Brenda Brenda

Speaker 2: Well, I do have some help that I work with a few guys that obviously do videographer and things like that. But when it comes to the culture, of course, it has to be the reflection of who we are,

Speaker 3: Alright, so what part of your social presence do you want your guests to see more of?

Speaker 2: to be very honest I've been thinking about this lately a lot and you're gonna start seeing a shift into our social media because like I said before we focus a lot into sharing the culture of the of the restaurant because I truly believe that if people do not have that back end story of understanding why we change these menus and why we do and recognize ourself as an authentic Italian and the difference between American Italian and Italian authentic without bashing American Italian because there's nothing wrong with that and I love a good penne vodka. It's just not Italian to me and I think people needs to understand and start appreciating the differences between the two cultures. ⁓ I think like I want, I see a shift now in social media where, you know, everybody in the beginning, we're trying to just be picture perfect. Instead, we are the entire opposite of it. you know, yes, of course we have to have nice content. So people want to eat at our place. You know, we, have bills to pay. But they need to understand the philosophy because to be honest with you, like social media can be great, but it can also be a burden. Like I cannot tell you, and this is a whole nother topic, but I cannot tell you how I hate reviews or even content creators. And I do have respect for some of them, ⁓ but like at the end of the day, I only take your word from the knowledge that you have. Everything else is just an opinion. based on the knowledge that you have. But if you've never been to that country, if you've never experienced the culture, what knowledge do you really have? So, you know.

Speaker 1: It's a free speech we were talking about.

Speaker 2: So now I want to really direct the content into being raw, into being real. We do share a lot about the concept of the place because that's the only way people are going to understand what we do.

Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, it's so important and I'm happy you bring up the the the the types of content that you guys post because yes Those pretty videos I say it all the time like yes, they're great But are they really capturing? the essence of the brand right because then is it is it just sort of ⁓ a Like you say a character versus the truth Right? And I'm so happy that you're picking up on this because we do the pretty videos too. We have a team comes to the restaurant, does the whole nine, right? And we make some really nice content, but you know what gets the best response is when I put my phone in front of the owner's face and I say, and I ask them a question or I ask her a question and we're just walking around the restaurant and they're talking to me. Do you know that that gets the- ⁓

Speaker 1: Absolutely.

Speaker 2: Yeah, done we've done a lot of these things where you know, for instance, but to be honest, I Don't really think a lot about you know Things like that sometimes because what we do generally is what we do every day While we share is what we do every day like I love to share more of the blind tastings because the blind taste is a truly unique experience where it's really you coming to his table just like if you were at our home and so the perspective and it's so cool just to put a camera there and film how that night go. Nothing is staged. Like there might be some hot conversations that happen there, but that's just the real deal. And so people want to see that. People want to be more relatable, want to understand who is behind really all of these pretty image, you know? And I want them to know how much it takes to do that pretty plate that they're getting on their table and not just the picture of the pretty plate, which is great, but. You know.

Speaker 3: How much can that pretty picture tell you? Some may say a lot. I say a fraction.

Speaker 2: ⁓ Yes, it depends, right? mean, when you have a handmade pasta and all of that, obviously there is more work. He can tell you that better.

Speaker 1: So I think this is the reality. ⁓ Everyone is great when he does the photo shoots. It's like everyone is, you know, it's like a beautiful woman that puts all the makeup on, right? But then am I getting there and getting there? That's my biggest question. Because the one things I always say to my wife is it needs to be real. I don't want a picture that it's beautiful and then the guest gets here and he doesn't have that. Because we don't have the time to do that. Because it's unreal. Because by the time I give you the plate to you for you to make the pictures, my ingredients had to be all cold maybe, right? And I need to do 25 to 30 touches to make it perfect. And I'm able to do that during a service. Because that's about online. If I'm posting you this one, it's because you are expecting to get that. Then I don't get it. And it's like, OK, so where is this flame? What is this, you know?

Speaker 3: That's my concern. You can't bait and switch anymore. Because people will feel that. They will feel that. And that's very hard to undo. I was working with a restaurant. I'm still working with them. I came on board in October of last year. And the sentiment of the guests was very negative. And I said, we have to switch that. We have to get out from behind the camera. And we have to start talking to guests. We need our team to start talking out on social media and to the guests. And we were able to shift that. And now they're seeing crazy numbers that they've seen pre-COVID, right? ⁓ That is really making a difference. Because I told them, said, a pretty video and a pretty picture is not going to change the sentiment your guests have about you, especially when the service wasn't that great to begin with. So let's change. Let's fix that, right? You go back to what you were saying. Let's fix the real issues. so that when they get there, they feel something different. And I want to get back to my experience a little bit with Fiorentini when I went for my mother's birthday. Not my mother's birthday. See, that's a Freudian slip. I call my wife, my mom, a lot lately. ⁓ I gotta be careful. But this was a big day. It was my first time there. It was my wife's birthday. And I was like, I don't know what to expect. I don't look at the menu before I go. I want to see it there. I'm like, you know. And we get there, and...

Speaker 1: careful

Speaker 3: I just couldn't believe the hospitality, just the way I was treated, the way the guests, I'm sorry, the way the servers were so knowledgeable, right? And they had charisma to them, right? They're not just sitting there taking orders. They were literally a tour guide of that restaurant.

Speaker 2: But that's the most vitality that you...

Speaker 1: No, no, it's also the key important of Fiorentini because what am I doing if I don't deliver it to you? Like, you know, I can have it on my website, on my pages. I can be as an owner the one that knows all of this. But if at the moment of sharing the knowledge to the guests, the job is not done, what's the point? Right. How are you going to go by yourself through my menus and understanding that my products are local? You know, I can write it, but...

Speaker 2: Right.

Speaker 1: You are there to enjoy your time. You're not there to work. You're not there to have to read an entire book page. You need to have someone that walks you through. And then from the moment you place your order, that's one thing I say to my guys, guys, it doesn't exist that you go to the table. It's something I really don't accept. And this, I think, comes from a culture of fine dining. Whenever you go to the table with a plate, who has this? It's like, through me. Because I'm like,

Speaker 3: right. That goes right through ya.

Speaker 1: If you are ordering to me, from that moment, it's my job to know that you ordered that.

Speaker 2: Sometimes it can happen because sometimes people... So, you know, it's just nothing's perfect, but...

Speaker 3: I got it, ⁓ Yeah, yeah

Speaker 1: You had to aim to that. You had to aim to that because it's like in everything in life. You aim to the top to get to a certain level close to the top, Federer, the tennis guy, he did something amazing, Roger. He say, talking about perfections, you know, I always aim into perfection. When I really do the counts on my perfection, I'm not even close to 40%.

Speaker 3: Really? That says a lot. No, it says a lot. So let me ask you this. I want to get a couple funny questions in and then we'll do some rapid fire questions. But I want to get back to the working together with husband and wife because I was thinking about that today. And I said to myself, I would be probably locked in jail if me and my wife ever opened up a restaurant. But what have you learned? Well, I know.

Speaker 2: It's hot.

Speaker 3: You have to go to the restaurant guys to see how well they complement each other. I don't want to waste time on the show to talk about that. Just go to the restaurant and watch how they complement each other. But I want to know what you've learned. from each other now running this business that you didn't know prior to running this business. I go f*** that.

Speaker 1: Because I learned a lot. Go for it. I learned a lot. I'm still learning and I need to learn even more. Number one, I'm Italian, we are stubborn. And we all are. In Italy, we all are. We always think that we know better. Okay, so the one thing I learned is that one. I had to stop to be that way. So I learned a lot about how to have to calm down and understand and open my ears before my mouth. That's one of the biggest things I did. and still working on it, but I really do. Number two, my teams teach me a lot, a lot, because they put me in perspective. You need to make us feel good. Yeah, be severe, be requesting, be whatever you wanna be. Just find a better way to do it. And that's something I learned. And with a new team, I see the difference. And... ⁓ And most of everything, the biggest change, it was how to talk to my wife. Actually, our relationships improved. We were worried that it was the opposite. It actually improved. But I think it has to do a lot with the fact that we both are similar in many aspects.

Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think the biggest thing that I've learned is that I think And sometimes it can also be a burden. So we are both very, very ⁓ perfectionists and persistent. And so, you know, we both, if something has our name in it, it has to work. have to find a way to make it work. And we are both workaholics. And sometimes that can be a burden because instead of like, you know, one... put some calm and say, you know, let's stop, let's not do this. We're constantly putting fire into each other. Okay, what do we do now? You know, and I actually do not know, we are always doing things. Like nobody had blunt tasting before. Now everybody's doing like this, which is great, you know, but you know, we're doing pasta classes, we're doing this, we're doing that, we're doing so many things and we're all, I'm always thinking like, okay, what can we do now? But then sometimes I'm like, no way. we just gotta like stop and breathe. But instead of like do that to each other, you know, we're both so any that, you know, it's great because we work really, really well together. Although there are times, you know, that obviously we butt heads because why not? But we work really well together and it's something that I don't think either of us expected in the beginning to work this well together. So that's definitely something that I've discovered.

Speaker 3: Alright, let's get into some fun questions. Not that the other questions weren't fun, but these are these are polarizing questions. I think our Yeah, yeah, I think our audience is really gonna love this so most overrated restaurant trend right now ⁓

Speaker 1: He's gonna tease now. No, you can't ask those questions. You're going to put it on spots. We can't.

Speaker 2: Okay, I'm not doing anything.

Speaker 3: You don't have to name names, but what do you think an overrated trend right now in restaurants are?

Speaker 1: ⁓ that's to tape. Absolutely. There you go. Absolutely. It's being used like, yeah, it's like a sticker.

Speaker 2: farm to table.

Speaker 3: Mmm. It's like a sticker. Alright, next question. Most underrated part of hospitality.

Speaker 1: and the rated bar of hospitality.

Speaker 2: I say the first greeting. The first greeting is just your business card. Your experience starts the moment you walk in. That first greeting is as important as everything. You can start good or you can start bad right away. I could never be happy if my first greeting with the hostess or whoever is there is someone dismissive that maybe looks at me a certain way. I'm already bad, like what the hell.

Speaker 3: You want to turn around and go out.

Speaker 1: Yeah, and to me the sense of hospitality and warmness. It's like we all have bad days. You need to learn that your bad days has to stay out of the door because right now your job is to deliver.

Speaker 3: And it's for them, it's not you. Yeah, I always say that to myself when I'm not having, I had a day yesterday, I didn't wanna create content, I didn't wanna do a shoot, I didn't wanna, and I said this is the perfect time to get it done. Because it's.

Speaker 1: That is what we call the hard work. Because if you don't push yourself through that, then you're a zero.

Speaker 3: us. It's at the at the back on the other side of that this isn't a therapy session for me I promise but at the when I came out of that session. I was so energized I was so excited to get out with that. Yeah, I was like what the hell Exactly exactly and you can't take that away from people you can't all right one thing every Italian restaurant Should do better

Speaker 2: See you later.

Speaker 1: Because you learn and because you're pushing.

Speaker 2: ingredients

Speaker 3: Okay, perfect. ⁓ The dish that tells you immediately ⁓ if a kitchen knows what it's doing.

Speaker 1: Any ingredients? any dish.

Speaker 3: any death.

Speaker 2: Ragout or tomato cuz ⁓ my god that drives me

Speaker 1: No, to me it's the overall plates. Like there are structure of things. I look at it the perspective of technique. I don't look at it from, because you don't know flavor until you try. So your only visual parts is what can give you the reality of, know what you're doing, you know what you're doing. I don't know. You do a chicken Milanese. Let's talk about American Italian food. A chicken Milanese. This is Italian as well, if it's simple chicken Milanese. Let's say you do a chicken Parmigiano, right? Now you're doing something fried and then you into so much liquid that you lose the fry. That's to me, it's a technical error. It's wrong. The beauty stands into the crunchiness of that. Why now it has to be soggy? Because your tomato sauce is watering. Because you're not thinking about using enough to let the water evaporate. It's technique behind.

Speaker 3: Bingo. All right, next question. You might have touched on this already, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. Best sign that you're about to have a great dining experience.

Speaker 2: The greetings, yeah. The greeting, it it does with that. Yeah.

Speaker 1: They're welcome.

Speaker 3: to welcome. Biggest red flag when you walk into a restaurant and you can't say,

Speaker 1: No.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 3: Smell.

Speaker 1: I'm sorry, maybe it's the deficit of my work industry, but I go by nose for everything.

Speaker 3: You know the second second most popular answer that question is the the the vents They look at the vents I would have never thought after hearing that I would have never thought in a million years to look at the vents But he now every restaurant go into it

Speaker 1: All the vents cleaning, yeah. Yeah, it's true.

Speaker 3: ⁓ Here's a question that got Ryan DiPersio and a lot of hot water, but the post went viral. Hundreds of thousands of views. But what matters more, food or service?

Speaker 2: I think still service. Although he will definitely disagree with me because you know food is

Speaker 1: I can't put one to the other one to me or both.

Speaker 3: It's both. can't differentiate.

Speaker 1: One one needs the other one

Speaker 2: ⁓ definitely.

Speaker 1: Because there is a say where a good service is going to cover a bad food, a good food is never covered a bad service. So by that, everyone's going to say service. But the reality is, yeah, you can make me not so mad with your hospitality, but if I didn't eat good, I would not come back.

Speaker 3: I get it. I never heard that.

Speaker 1: For me it's bo-

Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot places. Explain that. A lot of places.

Speaker 3: way.

Speaker 1: That's a say in the industry. I grew up with that say. A good service is going to cover a mediocre food, not a bad food, a mediocre food, but a good food will never cover a mediocre service.

Speaker 2: But the thing is that you want the guests to come back. you have to, at the end of the day, you're a restaurant. People are going there to have an experience, to eat, to feel good. But it's about the food.

Speaker 1: To me it goes deeper than that. To me is if you are really doing your job well, both should be equal. That's it. It's a bottom line. Because if you're only focused on the food, then you don't understand that your industry is made from service as well. So it's a complementary thing. it's one of the hard, there has always been a separation between dining room and kitchen. Front of the house, back of the house, the fight of all the times.

Speaker 3: Sure, 100%.

Speaker 1: So I try to think differently. Okay, let's get out of the box. How we make this together. Every day since we opened the door, the team front and back, it sit down together. There is no development.

Speaker 3: There's no divide. I love it. Okay. What's harder, opening up a restaurant or keeping it consistent?

Speaker 1: keeping in consistence.

Speaker 2: Okay.

Speaker 3: ⁓ The one ingredient you can never live without.

Speaker 2: Parmigiano.

Speaker 1: Olive Oil.

Speaker 3: Okay, alright, I liked it. Most, ⁓ the most misunderstood Italian dish.

Speaker 2: But I love these. you go there because this is more technical.

Speaker 1: Sorry, give me one second. ⁓

Speaker 2: I'm sure a lot of them come from your mom.

Speaker 1: Bread. Bread? Yeah.

Speaker 3: Bread is a science. It is a science. Okay, I like it. ⁓ What is one hospitality rule you'll never break?

Speaker 1: Hospitality rules and never break. and delivering you an amazing experience. Yeah.

Speaker 3: Brenda.

Speaker 2: Yeah, think, mean, if I got to think of one action specifically, it's be kind, you know? It can really transform your bad experience to your good experience. just had an epiphany. Yeah, I should do that. I just come from something like that this past weekend.

Speaker 3: So simple.

Speaker 1: So simple. Just count them.

Speaker 2: That's when I put in the effort and I say, like, this is my one chance to test me and because I have zero patience and also to transform, you know, how that gets turned a good. Yeah. Yes. And it was wonderful. You know, this person showed up with our reservation.

Speaker 1: a bad impact.

Speaker 3: to a bath.

Speaker 1: No, she had a reservation. She mistakenly cancelled. Yes. You know that press one or nine? It was her birthday.

Speaker 2: And it was her birthday and she had made another reservation at another place at the same time. So she meant to cancel the other place. So now you're showing up, you you're over 30 minutes late. It's your birthday. Your parents are waiting for you. And it was just, and she was like in the beginning, very reactive, like, oh, you know, I made a reservation. have proof that I didn't cancel yours, but then yet I am seeing on the screen from her phone that it says cancel. in that moment I'm like, I have two choices here. Cause I was able only to accommodate her one table for three people, like one square that normally it's for two, but I had no other table available. I mean, 30, know, Saturday is our crazy. So I said like, this is what I can do. And that is all I can do. mean, we,

Speaker 1: by 30 with an extra check.

Speaker 2: do have a cancellation from you. in that moment, it was like, you know, I can either turn this to be the best time for her or just make it miserable for her and for me, because you never live with a good taste when your guests are not happy. No restaurateur wants a guest to live unhappy, even if they are wrong. It's just not, it doesn't, it's like when you fight with your mom, it's just that doesn't make you feel good. You know, yes, you forget it quickly, but that's not what you want to do. So. I flipped it around and she had a best time and I felt great.

Speaker 1: And I have the answer to you. Honesty.

Speaker 3: ⁓ I love it. Okay, last question. Finish this sentence. A great restaurant brand is not built by blank.

Speaker 2: I gotta think about this one.

Speaker 1: Repeat.

Speaker 3: Yeah, so finish the sentence. great restaurant brand is not built by blank.

Speaker 2: I, to be honest, nowadays I feel that a good restaurant is not built without a real concept.

Speaker 1: It's A true story. A true identity.

Speaker 2: meaning, you know and and I again that can be very controversial because you know Food is really personal, you know, there might be a lot of people who've come to Fiorentini They didn't think it was the best thing nor do we think we are we have so much more to grow and to learn But there is only one thing that we know how to do and that stayed true to our concept So some people will like it some people want and that's totally fine But we do stay within that some people get it some people won't

Speaker 1: need to a true identity. Just saying I open because I cook good.

Speaker 3: You gotta stay. Ain't gonna cut it. It's ain't gonna last. Guys, what a fantastic interview. This was, I told you, we were actually over time. ⁓ What a blast I had with you guys today. I appreciate you so much for taking time out of your day and meeting me here.

Speaker 1: ain't gonna last. ⁓ my Thank you for having us this was wow, you know, can understand the time flies so far

Speaker 3: This was, yeah, you're in a good conversation. You know, you just lose track of it. But ⁓ my God. So real quick, where can people find you? So talk to them.

Speaker 1: So we are located at 98 Park Avenue, Rutherford, New Jersey. 98 Park Avenue, Rutherford, New Jersey. So please visit us. Fiorentini Restaurant, Ryan Park Avenue, Kanga Brown.

Speaker 3: again. Bingo guys. Guys, I gotta tell you, you have to experience this restaurant. When I walked in and I traveled Italy from top to bottom with my wife, I felt like I warped zoned into Italy from their hospitality to the food, to ambiance. Like if you've never been to Italy, go here first, especially. You're gonna get your socks blown off. And I'm not just saying that because they're here. I wrote them a fantastic review when I left there, not knowing them from Adam. I truly believe that they have one hell of a concept. man, I am just full of emotion right now. I'm not gonna lie. Like, we laughed. I was ready to cry at one moment. But this is a true story. This is how restaurants with true identities and true authenticity make it past the two-year mark and actually have a raving following. So, take one bit of what they said today. Apply it somehow some way and I could promise you you're gonna see a difference in how guests treat your restaurant And how you treat guests right because there was a lot that came out of today's episode So again, don't forget to like subscribe review share do all the things Blow my ego out of the water, please But this is how the show ⁓ grows and this is how other people get inspired and and make a difference in the industry So appreciate you guys Stay tuned for the next episode and I'll catch you the next one real soon. Take care.

Speaker 2: That wasn't

Speaker 3: That was great. That was great. I knew, I knew we weren't.