You could also look at the long history Alta Villa has enjoyed serving Chicagoland’s Italian-American community and the many special events it has catered for the area’s unions. (It recently hosted the 100th anniversary of the Cement Mason’s Union Local No. 502, attended by Gov. Pat Quinn and more than 700 guests.)

But even if you consider all that, you’d miss the main and most cherished ingredient: Enzo Grisi. Celebrating his 50th year in the food industry, Grisi has led the kind of career that could only be cooked from scratch. For starters, this 81-year-old dining dynamo still puts in between 60 and 70 hours a week at work. That’s a schedule to shame a man a quarter of his age.

Yet if you ask him to reflect on what it all means, Grisi views his success through the eyes of his flesh-and-blood family, and his extended famiglia of customers. “The most important thing is the community,” he says. “When you’ve been in business for more than 50 years, you’ve got to do something right.”

That’s an understatement if ever there was one. Long-standing catering operations can get by on superlative food alone — and Alta Villa has that part of the business down cold. But Grisi inspires all around him through an incomparable mix of work ethic and generosity. He also credits his wife of 59 years, Giuseppina (“Pina”), with making his success possible.

It also makes sense, then, that Grisi has shaped the lives of those who work for him. General Manager Danny Ranieri, his godson, started working with Grisi at age 13. Ranieri is 38 now and says: “The things I learned from Enzo you can’t learn at any school, business wise and customer service wise. What makes his business go is the personal touch.”

Having other members of the clan around helps, too. By his side at Alta Villa are his son and daughter, Frank Grisi and Rosemary Nasti, and grandson Enzo Grisi III. They, along with Enzo’s daughter, Josephine Pucci, have given Enzo nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

It’s an incredible story for a man who emigrated from Naples in 1956 and started out as a crane operator. By 1964, he opened up his first restaurant at Roscoe and Western, across the street from the gates of Riverview amusement park.

In 1969, he opened an eponymous restaurant at Harlem and Foster, which he ran until 2002, when he took up the reins of Alta Villa. In addition to hosting special events of up to 1,000 people, the facilities are open to the public for Sunday brunch and daily lunch buffets.

So after 50 years, is it finally time to retire? Grisi wouldn’t entertain that notion for a second. “A lot of people know me, they remember me,” he says. “I’m nice to everybody. I ask people, ‘How’s everything?’ and I try to take care of everything.”

And for the foreseeable future, Enzo Grisi definitely will.

Alta Villa Banquets
430 N. Addison Road
Addison, Ill. 60101
630-543-1222
altavillabanquets.com

Launched in 1958 as a bustling produce emporium at the corner of Harlem and Wrightwood in Elmwood Park, the enterprise has blossomed over the decades into a mini-empire that extends across the Chicago area.

Full-service grocery stores in Addison, Bloomingdale, Downers Grove, Elmwood Park, Hanover Park, Naperville/Plainfield and South Elgin operate in concert with the company’s expansive new warehouse, production facility and corporate headquarters in Carol Stream.

Nestled next door is the crown jewel of the company’s retail domain: a grocery store so well conceived and executed that it must be experienced firsthand to be truly appreciated.

Covering a remarkable 100,000 square feet and containing every imaginable item and amenity, Angelo Caputo’s Carol Stream store takes grocery shopping to new heights.

“We like to think of it as a shopping event,” company President Robertino Presta explains.

The tone is set the moment you walk in the door.

Immediately to your right is an intimate dining area within strolling distance of a bevy of food and beverage stations.

There is a tended bar stocked with premium beers and liquors, a wood-burning oven that churns out an assortment of pizzas, and stations devoted to omelets and crepes; coffee and gelato; sandwiches and panini; sushi and pasta; tacos and burritos; roasted chicken and pork; soups and salads; and yogurt, fresh juice, and cut fruits and veggies.

There are cases laden with pastries and cakes that you know are made fresh because you can see them being created through one of two windows that look into the production facilities.

The store is laid out like a baseball stadium with the bulk of the food stations representing the right-field stands.

An expansive infield sports more than 300 varieties of produce and an outfield of equal size teems with a dizzying array of domestic and imported groceries.

The right-field bleachers house extensive deli, meat and seafood cases; an entire section devoted to home-cooked meals; a fresh pasta station; and a gourmet cheese bar.

If the timing is right, you can watch in wonder as fresh mozzarella is pulled by hand, fresh pasta pours from gleaming machines and a dozen varieties of sausage are conjured before your very eyes.

“We place a huge premium on freshness,” Presta says. “All of our soups, sauces, pastas, baked goods and sausages are made on site without additives or preservatives. And we vacuum seal our meats and cook/chill our soups and sauces to boost their freshness and shelf life.”

Moving on to the center and left bleachers of this veritable field of grocery dreams, you’ll find whole rooms devoted to breakfast foods, chips and sodas, household items, frozen foods, bulk items, and wine and liquor. There’s even a small flower shop near the checkout area.

“Shopping at our Carol Stream store is a family event,” Presta says. “A wife will walk in from work, call her husband and say, ‘Why don’t you come down with the kids?’ and then enjoy a glass of wine until they arrive. After they finish dinner, they’ll shop for groceries for the week.”

For such an immense operation, the Carol Stream facilities leave a remarkably small carbon footprint. “We’re the first in the country and the largest in the world to use all LED lighting and all CO2 refrigeration,” Presta explains. “We take our commitment to the environment and our community very seriously.”

Angelo Caputo’s
520 E. North Ave.
Carol Stream, IL 60188
630-620-4444
caputomarkets.com/

That positive impression is reinforced in the soaring two-story lobby with its curving staircase and earth-tone walls accented with contemporary renderings of Corinthian columns.

And there are homey touches, too: family photos of founders Angelo and Romana Caputo from the 1950s, a colorful cornucopia enshrined on a table that echoes the company logo, and the heady aroma of soups, meats and other culinary delights wafting from within.

Welcome to the next generation of Angelo Caputo’s Fresh Markets, where tradition and modernity come together to shape a bright future for one of the community’s legendary family businesses.

“We were running out of space in our old warehouse, but we weren’t looking for a property THIS big,” emphasizes Robertino Presta, president of the company and son-in-law of the founder. “This fell into our laps, and with all that extra space, we saw a lot of opportunity.”

How much space, exactly? Thirty acres total, with a 300,000-square-foot facility, 100,000 of which are devoted to a breathtaking new grocery store that will be up and running this summer. (More on that in the coming months.)

And the remaining 200,000 square feet? The warehouse and corporate offices that currently serve stores in Addison, Bloomingdale, Downers Grove, Elmwood Park, Hanover Park, Naperville and South Elgin, with plenty of room for growth. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Along one long wall is kitchen after kitchen filled with gleaming equipment that conjures up a dizzying array of baked goods; fresh sausages; roasted meats; salads and entrees; soups and sauces; pastas, panzerotti and arancini; and so much more.

There’s an economy of scale in centralizing food production that Caputo’s is happy to pass along to its customers. But there’s a less tangible benefit that’s just as important.

“We have these great recipes that we previously prepared at each store,” Presta explains. “We did a good job of maintaining consistency from store to store, but preparing everything in one place allows us to take our quality to a whole new level.”

A state-of-the-art cook-chill process takes prepared foods from a few hundred degrees to just above freezing in less than an hour, greatly enhancing freshness and shelf life. And more than a dozen holding coolers keep each category of product at just the right temperature.

Centralization also engenders creativity, according to Presta. “We can develop a product, field customer input and ask ‘What’s next?’ in a way that we couldn’t when we were preparing foods at the individual stores.”

Overseeing the company’s vast culinary operations are corporate chef Francesco Chiaramonte, line chef Eugenio Paladino and master pizzaiolo Leo Spizzirri.

Since they were starting from scratch, Caputo’s decided to go all green with their new facilities, installing LED lighting throughout, instituting a comprehensive recycling program, and switching from Freon to more environmentally friendly C02 throughout its cooling systems, making it the first facility in America and the largest one in the world to do so.

“We are so proud of what we’ve accomplished here,” Presta shares, “and we’re so proud of the many ways that our communities and customers will benefit.”

Angelo Caputo’s
520 E. North Ave.
Carol Stream, IL 60188
630-620-4444
caputomarkets.com

What’s their secret?

“Great quality,” Joe Caputo notes.

“Great value,” older son Nat chimes in.

“Great service,” younger son Vito adds.

The Caputo saga actually began more than a century ago in Mola di Bari, where Joe’s parents, Natale and Caterina, ran a grocery store. When his father came to America to pave the way for the rest of his family, 16-year-old Giuseppe stayed behind to mind the store. “It was a lot of responsibility,” he recalls. “I learned a lot.”

After doing factory and construction work, Joe opened a successful pizzeria, which he ran for several years. Along the way, he married Anna Lieggi and started a family of his own.

Joe worked for his brother Angelo of Angelo Caputo’s Fresh Markets fame for nearly 20 years before opening the first Joe Caputo & Sons in Des Plaines in 1989. “My dad did this for us,” Vito explains. “He asked if we wanted to start a market of our own and we were all in.”

Nat and Vito were 21 and 19 respectively, and as they grew as grocers, so did the chain. A 55,000-square-foot store was added in Palatine in 2005, and a 75,000-square-foot store was built in Algonquin in 2007.

“As big as our newer stores are, they still have that old-school feel,” Nat says. “We know a lot of our customers by name, we pay attention to what they need, and we give them the best quality and value possible.”

Nat handles operations, Vito does all the produce buying, and although Joe is officially retired, you can still find him at the Des Plaines store at the crack of dawn, helping the staff set up for the day.

“My dad laid a great foundation for us,” Nat says. “He taught us everything he knew, gave us the tools we needed, and pointed us in the right direction.”

Nat is particularly proud of his brother’s contribution to the enterprise. “Vito is down at the market every day, picking out the freshest produce at the best price. There is no middleman,” Nat notes. “My father taught him well, and Vito is a master at what he does.”

There’s so much more for the Caputos to be proud of, including pastries and breads baked from scratch, a meat department run by skilled butchers, a deli stocked with quality meats and cheeses, and a full line of grocery items that include all your favorite Italian specialties.

There are gems in each department, including Joe Caputo & Sons’ signature cannoli, Italian beef and Italian sausage, all of which are handcrafted in house, and a wide variety of Caputo brand cheese products from Wiscon Corp., which is run by Joe’s brother Pasquale.

And after 25 years in the business, there’s so much for the Caputos to be grateful for. “We couldn’t have done this without our staff: they do such a great job, and they’re so good with the customers,” Nat explains. “And our customers? They’re like family. Without them, we’d be nothing, and we try to thank them every day in everything we do.”

Joe Caputo and Sons
www.joecaputoandsons.com

“We Bake To Differ.” Not just a catchy slogan but also a real commitment by five generations of the Gonnella and Marcucci families. “At Gonnella Baking Co., we care about our product. It’s the quality. It’s the freshness. It’s the texture, the aroma and the crispiness. No detail is too small for our bakers not to fret over,” a company spokesperson says. “Our customers appreciate the combination of Old-World quality at a very competitive price.”

That Old-World quality began in 1886 when Alessandro Gonnella came to the United States looking to fulfill the American Dream. He bought a small storefront bakery on Chicago’s De Koven Street, where he perfected his trade. For many years it was a one-man operation. He mixed the dough, baked the bread, delivered the products and even kept the books for his fledgling neighborhood enterprise. His hard work and long hours paid off. Gonnella’s little business thrived.

A few years later, Gonnella returned to his home in Barga, Italy, to marry Marianna Marcucci. In 1896, he moved his bakery shop to a larger building on Sangamon Street. By then he had brought his wife to the United States. In the early 1900s, his young brothers-in-law — Lawrence, Nicholas and Luigi Marcucci — left Italy to join Gonnella in the United States to assist with the growing business.

When the Erie Street plant was built in 1915, Gonnella’s horse-drawn delivery wagons were making more than 200 stops per day. More plants were purchased, and by the end of World War II, the sale of baked goods to grocery stores and restaurants had replaced home deliveries.

In the mid-1970s, Gonnella Baking Co. started producing frozen dough, establishing a strong presence as a supplier to the in-store bakery industry. As demand increased, production facilities were opened, first in Schaumburg, Ill., and more recently in Hazle Township, Pa. Gonnella frozen dough products are now distributed nationwide.

The Gonnella and Marcucci families are still operating the business much as their grandfathers and great-grandfather did so many years ago. Thirty-six family members work for the company today. “We are taught from an early age that getting along is paramount,” one family member says. “Gonnella Baking Company is not the result of any one person; it is a family, working together, for the common good. Every family member starts out the same way — at the business end of a broom.”

Family members joining the business are usually experienced in bakery clean-up by age 16. After that, some go into the bakeshop, while others prefer working in the office or perhaps outside sales. The company tries to fit individuals into jobs that are fulfilling and productive. For younger members in high school or college, schedules can be hectic, but that’s how the family business is learned. As one family member puts it, “You can’t major in work ethic in college.”

Today, Gonnella Baking Co. has four different plants and produces more than 4 million pounds of product each week. That’s quite a remarkable transformation from the days when a few hundred loaves a week were produced in the basement shop on De Koven Street. But, the bread that comes out of the ovens today is the same Old-World product that Alessandro Gonnella produced over a century ago.

Gonnella Baking Co.
1117 E. Wiley Road
Schaumburg, Ill. 60173
800-322-8829
www.gonnella.com

Just ask Vito and Marianna Moreci and their son and daughter, Pasquale and Rosalia. Working shoulder to shoulder for nearly three decades, they have transformed Roberto’s in Elmhurst from a tiny pizzeria into a bastion of fine Italian dining.

Their saga begins on the northern coast of Sicily, where Vito Moreci and Marianna Bucaro were born and raised. Childhood sweethearts, they were married in Italy before coming to America in search of a better life.

Vito started out in construction, but pursued pizza making at the invitation of a friend. After owning his own place in Bartlett, he set his sights on a tiny pick-up-only pizzeria on Spring Road in Elmhurst.

“It was a small place with not too many items, but it was there for more than 20 years and it had a great reputation,” Vito explains. “We bought the restaurant in 1985 and kept the name, and we’re still friends with the owners today.”

With Vito taking orders and greetings customers and Marianna running the kitchen, Roberto’s was ready to take off. And son Pasquale was with them from the start.

“I was cutting pizza when I was 12, and when I was in high school, I took part in a work program so I could leave school early and work at the pizzeria,” he recounts.

Today, Vito and Marianna greet the customers, daughter Rosalia keeps the books, and Pasquale runs the business, ruling the kitchen and filling in wherever he’s needed.

Roberto’s has come a long way from its humble, hole-in-the-wall beginnings. An expansive 150-seat dining area has a Tuscan charm that’s truly magical, and a 50-seat veranda that opens onto a lovely landscaped park is perfect for al fresco dining when the weather warms up.

The menu has been miraculously transformed, as well. “We started out with a wine list of a dozen bottles and maybe 20 traditional items like pasta all’amatriciana, zuppa di pesce and veal saltimbocca,” Pasquale explains. “Today, we have 275 different wines from California and Italy; nearly two dozen appetizers, soups and salads; and more than four dozen pasta dishes and entrees.”

Customer favorites include garganelli alla romana, featuring a wrapped mostaccioli, pancetta, diced tomatoes, smoked mozzarella, green onions, e.v.o.o., and a splash of brandy; and a marinated and grilled Mediterranean sea bass that’s de-boned at the table and served atop a bed of sautéed spinach and risotto zafferano.

And Roberto’s pizza is still the stuff of legends, topped with a subtle blend of cheeses, embellished with handcrafted sausage and baked fresh daily to a light, flaky finish.

What keeps Roberto’s at the top of its culinary game after all these years? A fierce devotion to quality and an equally deep commitment to the customer.

“Consistency is so important in this business,” Pasquale stresses. “Even when economic times are tough, we work together as a family to keep the quality of our product high. But the real joy comes from being able to host a baby shower for a family one year, and then a wedding reception 20 years later, along with every other special event in between.”

Roberto’s Ristorante & Pizzeria
483 Spring Road
Elmhurst, Ill. 60126
630-279-8486
www.robertosristorante.com

A clinical social worker with a degree from the University of Chicago, Goldsmith was living and working in Florence in the 1980s while his wife, Ginny, was going to art school, and he was absolutely loving it. When the couple returned to the Windy City with their young daughter, Sarah, he felt he had left a part of his soul behind.

The couple bought a building in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago, and Goldsmith began volunteering as a cook at a social service agency serving the homeless of Uptown. On a flight back to Italy for a visit, with an article about his volunteer work on his lap, he struck up a conversation with an Italian gentleman sitting next to him.

“I was wondering aloud about what I was going to do with my life and he said, ‘You should open a pizzeria. Flour, water, salt and yeast: You’ll make a lot of money,’” Goldsmith recalls with a laugh. “When I shared the story with my friends in Italy, they said, ‘Go to Naples. That’s where you go for pizza.’”

And so Goldsmith’s odyssey was launched. He began learning his trade in a town overlooking Naples from master pizzaiola Enzo Coccia, and then he spent 10 of the next 18 months traveling the region, visiting pizzerias, studying menus, earning trust, and embracing the mysteries of the craft.

“In the end, it’s all about the dough,” Goldsmith shares. “It’s literally alive, and so every day you go back to square one. You strive for consistency, but it’s important to have a dialogue.”

Back in the states, he turned his fledgling restaurant into a true temple of italianità, replete with Sicilian tile work, Neapolitan lithographs, stunning mosaics, and a wood-burning brick oven created by third- and fourth-generation artisans.

And that attention to detail doesn’t end with the decor. His pizzas are crafted with flour from Naples, tomatoes from southern Italy, bufala mozzarella from Caserta, and extra virgin olive oil from Liguria.

“Everything we do is light, and we strive to achieve a perfect balance,” Goldsmith asserts. “You want a symphony of flavors, where one element doesn’t overwhelm the other. It’s everything coming together that makes a “capolavoro,” a masterpiece.”

On a menu that features only a dozen antipasti, eight pizze rosse, eight more pizze bianche and a handful of daily specials, you’ll discover items that you can’t find anywhere else this side of the Atlantic.

“We have a cheese that dates back 2,000 years, a minestra with roots in ancient Rome, and wines made from indigenous grapes that were almost extinct until recently,” Goldsmith points out with pride.

The praise showered upon Spacca Napoli by the likes of Zagat, Michelin, LTH Forum and “The Hungry Hound” should come as no surprise. Never one to rest on his laurels, Goldsmith travels back to Italy several times a year to unearth new products and further refine his craft.

And just as each day at Spacca Napoli involves a dialogue with the dough, it also involves collaboration among an extended family of employees, customers and pizzaiuoli around the world.

“This isn’t a business — it’s a community,” Goldsmith concludes.

Spacca Napoli Pizzeria
1769 W. Sunnyside Ave.
Chicago, IL 60640
773-878-2420
spaccanapolipizzeria.com

For nearly 80 years, Serrelli’s Finer Foods has been a grand name in the industry that’s guaranteed to bring a smile. From the first grocery store that Louis Serrelli opened at Western and Huron in 1934, the Serrelli family has been all about great products and friendly service.

“When my grandfather came over from Calabria in the 1930s, he had the philosophy that people had to eat and drink,” recalls Patti Serrelli Hereau. “So why not make them happy?”

Rich memories of food fill Patti’s mind and heart.

“We used to congregate on Sunday’s after church in the back of the store, and my grandmother would make the most delicious Sunday meals,” Patti recalls. “We had pots of wonderful food on the stove and that’s how we grew up.”

Patti literally grew up at Serrelli’s Finer Foods, working alongside her dad, the legendary Danny Serrelli, throughout her elementary and high school years. It was when her dad joined her grandfather in the business that the duo concocted the family’s now-famous recipe for Italian beef — a recipe that would put the Serrelli name on the map.

Father and son would later move the store to 4150 W. North Ave., and then to its present location at 6454 W. North Ave. — an establishment that now roasts 1,500 pounds of Italian beef at a time for wholesale and retail sales.

In 2002, during Patti’s professional career in advertising, she and her late husband, Bill, launched Serrelli Street (www.serrelli-st.com), an e-commerce website aimed at generating additional sales.

“I started Serrelli Street so I didn’t have to be in the store every day,” she recalls. “There was a method to my madness.”

Her method proved eminently sane, and sales across the country blossomed. “We have a ton of transplants who left Chicago and were clamoring for our beef,” Patti explains.

Grand success followed. It was time for Patti to change careers. “My husband passed away in 2009, and I came to Serrelli’s full-time,” she says. “My dad passed away in 2010 at the age of 89, and I’ve been here ever since.”

Serrelli’s always has been a thriving business, but a year ago, Patti saw another opportunity for change. “I’ve always wanted to have a beef stand,” she says.

Closing her doors only for a couple of days, Patti pulled off a massive renovation that was a year in the planning, growing Serrelli’s into a light, airy, 6,400-square-foot store — complete with the beef stand she had long dreamed of.

Italian beef production and shipping still goes on in the back of the store, but what customers see walking into the new Serrelli’s are rows of American groceries and Italian favorites, a deli section filled with fresh meats, freezers along the west wall laden with ready-to-eat delicacies made from time-tested family recipes and a refrigerated section along the east wall.

And tucked in the northeast corner of the store? The soon-to-be famous Serrelli’s beef stand, serving piping hot sandwiches of Serrelli’s legendary Italian beef.

“I have recreated my life, and it’s everything I could possibly want it to be,” Patti says. “I thank my grandfather and father. I think food is love and food brings family together, and that’s how I feel about it and where I’m coming from with this store.”

A grand vision, and one that we’re all glad came true.

Serrelli’s Finer Foods is located at 6454 W. North Ave. in Chicago. For details, call 773-237-7530 or visit www.serrelli-st.com.

Even though the Turano Baking Co. is one of the largest bread makers in the nation, its heart still beats with the warmth and generosity of a small family business. For the last half century, La Famiglia Turano has steadily built a world-class company firmly rooted in values that can be traced to its founder.

Launched in a storefront shop in Chicago in 1962 by Mariano Turano, the company has blossomed under the stewardship of sons Renato, Tony and Giancarlo into a national powerhouse with more than 750 employees who create more than a million pounds of bread weekly at each of four facilities across the country, which have a combined square footage that exceeds 600,000.

Involved in the business since day one, the three brothers have been the driving force behind the company’s remarkable growth. But despite their phenomenal success, they have never forgotten their roots, building an equally impressive legacy of generosity that is nothing short of legendary.

As the trio oversees the company’s 50th anniversary celebration, they are secure in the knowledge that the future of the enterprise is in the capable hands of a third generation that includes Renato’s son and daughter, Mario and Lisa; Tony’s daughter, Jennifer; and Giancarlo’s sons, Joseph, Giancarlo II and Anthony.

Ask any Turano what makes success so sweet, and you’ll get nearly identical answers.

“It’s being able to take the great gift our father gave us and turn it into a thriving enterprise where family is still the key,” Tony explains.

“It’s being able to see my family every day, that’s the most satisfying part of what we do,” Giancarlo adds. “To be able to share everything with our family.”

“Family is the essence of our existence,” Renato concludes. “As Italians, the greatest value that we keep is the love of family and the concept that family is the most important thing.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Turano family spirit was instilled by Mariano and Assunta, a young couple from Calabria who came to America with their three sons in 1958 in pursuit of the American dream.

A coffee salesman in Italy, Mariano found a job working construction in Chicago during the week while he helped out in his spare time at his brother Carmen’s grocery store and bakery.

There, Mariano baked bread using an old family recipe from his hometown. At the time, there was nothing available locally like his family’s hearty two-pound Italian loaf, and he knew his friends and neighbors would enjoy a little taste of the Old Country.

As initial requests turned quickly into standing weekly orders, Mariano focused his attention on growing his business, devising a home-delivery route that he could fulfill in the early morning hours before going to work. He finally left the construction business behind in 1960.

A fire in 1961 all but destroyed his brother’s business, compelling Mariano to buy an existing business, Campagna Bakery, in 1962.

Over the next few years, he continued to build his client base by selling Italian and French breads through retail sales and home delivery. Meanwhile, his brother Carmen re-opened Turano Bakery, bringing their other brother, Eugenio, in as his partner and manager.

Renato, Tony and Giancarlo fondly recall coming home from school to find the family station wagon stuffed to the gills with bread for afternoon deliveries.

Though the brothers went to different high schools — with Renato and Tony going to St. Mel’s in Chicago and Giancarlo attending St. Joseph’s in Westchester — they were bound together by the family business.

“During those early years, we all did the same things. We ran home deliveries, we worked in the bakery making bread, we sold, we delivered, we were electricians, we were floor sweepers, we were oven loaders and chefs. We did everything,” Giancarlo explains.

After Eugenio assumed full control of Turano Bakery, he and Mariano decided to join forces in 1965, merging their businesses into one bakery in 1967 and calling it Campagna-Turano, the name under which the company is still incorporated.

“It became evident that my father and uncle had been trying to serve the same clientele, and they decided that they would make better partners than competitors,” says Renato. “It turned out to be a very wise decision because they consolidated operations, leaving a lot of room to expand the business.”

That same year, Campagna-Turano moved to Berwyn, still the site of the company’s headquarters, while initiating home delivery across the Chicago area. In the beginning, the plant occupied a modest 2,000 square feet with a maximum output of 200 loaves a day.

A year later, the company went after the wholesale market, launching a successful line of pre-cooked, pan-style frozen pizzas, named Mamma Susi’s after the family’s beloved matriarch, Assunta.

“We’ve always managed to stay one step ahead of our customers’ needs,” Tony says. “To maintain the level of quality that has brought us success over the years, we’ve always found it necessary to expand.”

The company quickly built a reputation as a quality vendor, and its wholesale business began to steadily rise, thanks in part to the aggressive marketing efforts of Renato, Tony and Giancarlo.

In 1984, Turano expanded its Berwyn headquarters into a 100,000-square-foot production facility that operated seven days a week, and produced more than 120 varieties of breads and rolls.

The plant was later expanded by an additional 85,000 square feet with the addition of several artisan bread lines. The icing on the cake was applied in 2004, when the retail shop at the Berwyn facility was re-opened under the name Mamma Susi Bakeshop.

Anticipating even greater growth from the launch of its par-baked line of wholesale goods, Turano expanded again in 1994, this time building a state-of-the-art 100,000-square-foot plant in Bolingbrook, Ill.

The Bolingbrook plant was eventually expanded to 220,000 square feet to allow for production and national distribution of frozen bread products.

To better serve its growing national clientele, the brothers recently opened a pair of 100,000-plus-square-foot facilities in two southern states: Turano Georgia Bread in Villa Rica in 2008 and Turano Florida Bun in Orlando in 2009.

“These bakeries take Turano to the next level, allowing the next generation to be able to grow the business,” Tony observed at the time.

“And it brings us to a different part of the country, helping our products and brands become better known,” Giancarlo added.

“Our purpose is to serve our customers no matter where they’re at, and we have customers all over the country,” Renato concluded. “That’s the expansion program we designed.”

The Turano plants house some of the most cutting-edge technology available in the wholesale baking industry today, mostly imported from Europe, which the Turanos visit often to glean new processes and remain a leader in the industry.

Today, 90 percent of the company’s business is wholesale, and 10 percent retail, with more than 5,000 Midwest restaurants, grocery stores and other outlets being serviced by 100 truck routes.

All told, the Turano product line now consists of more than 400 types of breads and other baked goods. Among them are Italian, French, and artisan bread and rolls; Mamma Susi pizzas; and high-speed bun and sliced breads for both grocery and foodservice industries.

The company’s success hasn’t gone unnoticed by the industry, with both major trade publications — Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery and Baking & Snack — hailing Turano Baking Co. as Wholesale Bakery of the Year.

Through it all, the business has remained completely family-owned and operated, with Renato serving as chairman, Tony as president, and Giancarlo as vice president of sales and marketing. And the third generation of Turanos is well positioned to uphold the company’s tradition of excellence.

A carefully crafted plan of succession has Giancarlo II currently serving as national sales manager; Joseph as director of operations-Midwest; Anthony as information systems director; Mario as marketing director and Lisa as vice president of legal.

“We’re implementing this plan gradually, and our fathers are very supportive of it,” Giancarlo II explains. “They want to see it succeed.”

The next generation has fully embraced the philosophy that has been handed down from grandfather to sons to them.

“QSV2 has always been our motto, which stands for Quality, Service, Value and Variety,” Joseph explains. “The motto was coined by our dads for the company’s 25th anniversary, and since then, we have been living and operating by it. Customers and family always come first, and we have the best role models you can imagine.”

“Our fathers have taken the business across the country, from crust-to-crust, so-to-speak,” Lisa laughs. “When my grandfather purchased the bakery in Berwyn, he opened it with the intention of meeting neighborhood demand. He truly was a visionary, but I don’t think he could have predicted what this bakery was going to become.”

Renato credits his father with maintaining the unity required to scale the heights. “It was quite a feat on his part to be able to keep the kids together and give them a future,” he says. “He used to always say, ‘I may have started the bakery, but my kids made an industry out of it.'”

The success Mariano’s family has achieved has, in turn, supported the company’s extensive charity work. The Turano Family Foundation provides donations to countless worthy causes, including the Greater Chicago Food Depository, research for juvenile diabetes, scholarships for Catholic schools, and foundations that give aid to the inner city, among many others.

The Turanos are also pillars of the Chicago-area Italian-American community, donating selflessly over the decades to Villa Scalabrini, the Italian Cultural Center, Società San Francesco di Paola, the Calabresi in America Organization, the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans and Casa Italia, to name just a few.

“We’re in a situation where we can give back to the community something the community has given us over the years,” Renato says. “We were fortunate enough to have some success, and at this point, sharing some of the benefits is a great feeling.”

The brothers have earned a host of honors for their generosity over the decades. And in 2003, the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans earned the coveted Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Humanitarian of the Year Award, which is given annually by the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans to members of the community who best personify the spirit of our late, great archbishop.

“It was quite an honor,” Renato recalls. “Nobody can equal the humanitarian spirit of Cardinal Bernardin, and just to be mentioned in the same breath was a humbling experience.”

The Turanos’ willingness to lend a helping hand is rooted in the challenges of the immigrant experience, Tony says. “We didn’t forget where we come from,” he explains. “We know the struggles that our parents’ generation endured and we were glad to build on the foundation they built for us. We have close ties to the community and we have a lot of respect for its leaders and members.”

One of the family’s proudest moments came in 2006, when Renato Turano began a two-year term as the first senator to represent the Italian citizens of North and Central America in the Italian Parliament. The magnitude of the event didn’t hit home, though, until the freshman representative arrived for his first day on the job.

“When I was a young man, my father always instilled in me that I should maintain my relations with Italy at all times, and especially that I should maintain my ties to the Italian language,” Renato says. “By his way of thinking, I might have to return to Italy one day, and I might even have to work there.

“So there I am, walking down the corridors of the Italian Parliament with the guards calling me by name, and my eyes are filling with tears as I think about how proud my father would have been,” he continues. “He was right — I did return to Italy to work — but he never could have imagined in his wildest dreams that I would be returning as a senator.”

While success has been considerable and sweet, the three brothers still look back at those early years fondly. “We had a wonderful time,” Giancarlo says. “It was the best time for all of us. Even today, we have a great time being in business together. We all work hard, we’re all driven, and we all seem to have the same goals and ideals.”

So what’s the secret of the company’s meteoric rise? Each brother explains it differently.

“Turano stays ahead of the curve by continuously looking at our customers’ changing needs and satisfying them through innovation, research and development,” Tony says.

“Success isn’t so much a destination as it is an ongoing effort,” Giancarlo adds. “There is one word that exemplifies what we are all about and that word is ‘better,’ because it identifies the fact that we will always work to make progress, that the quest for success is truly never ending.”

“There’s no great secret to our success,” Renato concludes. “We’ve been true to the traditions and principles upon which my father founded the company a half a century ago.”

“If you ask for directions in Rome, folks are friendly and efficient. You’re on your way in a minute or two,” he explains. “In Sicily, you’re talking for 20 minutes because they want to know your life story.”

That warm embrace can be felt in every menu item and decorative touch at Affresco, the pizzeria and lounge in Park Ridge that Lazzara opened in 2006.

A veteran of the restaurant business at only 35 years old, Lazzara began his culinary journey in grade school while helping out at Le Torre, the Palatine eatery owned by his parents, Giuseppe and Giovanna Lazzara. “I started out at the age of 10 making salads, and by the age of 16 I moved forward to pizzas and sautéing,” he recalls.

When his folks retired in 1996 and returned to Sicily, Lazzara tagged along, spending one of the best years of his life in his ancestral home of Altavilla Milicia. “I had already learned so much from my parents, and my uncle taught me even more,” he explains. “He showed me that absolutely anything can be made from scratch. You don’t have to buy it in a jar or a box.”

That lesson has been his mantra since he returned to the States, first opening Spuntino’s on Higgins Road in Park Ridge at the tender age of 21, and then reaching for the stars with Affresco. “We bake our own bread and make most of our pastas from scratch,” Lazzara assures, “and our freezer is just big enough to hold our gelato. Everything we do is fresh, high-quality and authentic.”

That authenticity begins with a pizza oven that was brought over from Naples and assembled, brick by brick, on the main floor of the two-story restaurant. “We either cook or complete most of our dishes in the oven because of the flavor and finish that it imparts,” he explains.

Chief among them are Affresco’s “Sicilian-American” pizzas, so called because they are thicker and breadier than the typical Neapolitan pie, and topped with a Chicago-style combination of fresh and brick mozzarella and provolone.

Affresco’s signature roasted chicken is another fan favorite. Why? “Because it’s so simple,” Lazzara notes. “Rosemary and garlic, lemon butter on top, and finished in the oven to a nice crispness.”

The menu also boasts a linguini pescatore in a delicate white wine marinara and a pillowy handcrafted gnocchi made with ricotta rather than potatoes. And no meal at Affresco is complete without cartocci, a delightfully decadent dessert that teams piping hot fried dough sticks with cool cannoli filling.

And the decor is just as warm and inviting as the menu. Walls of brick or Tuscan-style stucco are painted in rich earth tones. Italian lights dangle from the wooden beams of a soaring 14-foot ceiling. Century-old Mediterranean roof tiles double as wine racks. And the light fixtures above a black granite bar are capped with halved wine barrels.

A broad, open staircase with a wrought-iron railing ascends to a sheltered rooftop terrace that’s enclosed in the winter and open on the sides in the summer. And a private side room on the second floor can accommodate business and family gatherings of up to 15, with the entire restaurant available for private events of up to 200.

Carryout and catering are also available, classes in Italian cooking are regularly taught, and specialty menus are offered on St. Joseph Day, Easter, Mother’s Day and Christmas Eve.

After a quarter century in the restaurant business, does Lazzara ever tire of the long hours and blistering pace? Never.

“I love dealing with people, I love cooking, I love every aspect of the restaurant business,” he says. “Even after a crazy night when you’re so tired you can’t get up, you get up and do it again anyway because it’s a passion.”

Affresco Pizzeria
11 N Northwest Hwy
Park Ridge, Ill. 60068
847-292-0233
affrescopizzeria.com