Today we’d like to introduce you to Lucio and Angelo Perrina.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Lucio and Angelo. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My older brother (Angelo) and I started in the restaurant business in 2009 with our father. Our father was a restauranteur in Italy for many years. He then worked in construction when coming to this country. Once my brother and I graduated college, we decided to open our first restaurant. Toscana Ristorante of Peabody opened in 2009.
All we had to work with was a great passion for food growing up in an Italian household where there was never a shortage of homemade pasta, fresh sauces, homemade bread, olive oil from my grandmothers land in Italy, etc etc. We did have a background in business in Real Estate, Construction, and the Marble & Granite Industry from our parents.
After a couple years of learning the ropes of the industry, we began to excel. We got very lucky with a great group of customers who wanted to see us succeed and supported us every step of the way. Most of these customers are still with us almost 8 years later. Our first expansion and probably the turning point in our careers to this point was the addition of our function space to the Peabody location. It is a 120 seat function facility. This springboarded us into the world of functions and all types of catering on site and off site, from corporate events to office meetings to graduation parties.
2 years ago, in 2015 we opened our second location in Beverly, Toscana Bar Italiano. This is a little bit different concept and geared more toward the bar and shareable appetizers. But the same core of old-school recipes that were successful in Peabody.
In the same year, we launched a line of retail marinara sauces called “Mrs. Perrina Brands”. This concept of making it yourself sauce was inspired by our mother, Silvana Perrina. When we were kids, her and my grandmother would make hundreds of jars of tomato sauce every summer and store them for the entire year. We would pull 1 jar from the garage every single night and have some sort of pasta dinner every single night of the week. This is how the concept of Mrs. Perrina Marinara was born.
*www.mrsperrina.com will explain this concept a little more.
Our most recent venture is a healthy meal prep company called “Nutre Meal Plans”. We deliver fully prepared gourmet meals to homes on a weekly basis. Customers choose what they want to eat for the following week from a rotating menu, and we deliver the meals to your doorstep. Our youngest brother, Valentino joined us for this venture and has become a big part of what we are doing on all fronts.
Our abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, along with guidance from our father have given us the opportunity to excel in many different frontiers of business.
This past year, 2
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We have been through some obstacles with the restaurants. Although, we have been extremely lucky with loyal and smart staff that has been with us through thick and thin. We give a lot of credit to them for our success.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Toscana Restaurants – what should we know?
Our brands are built on quality food. We don’t know how to make food any other way. Growing up the way we did, it was easy for us to know quality from not. We were spoiled in that sense as kids.
So we are very proud of the product we put out there. In many cases, we don’t even make a margin on some food because we would rather have a great product than make a ton of money on something that we aren’t proud to put out there.
I think this has been a separating factor for us.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Our parents and grandparents have been the biggest factors. Any recipe we make comes from them. Also, they were incredible mentors in understanding what type of work needs to be put in to be successful. Everyone in our family has been hard workers and never shy away from a challenge. They taught us how to look at negative things just as another challenge. Adversity happens every single day in business. We were taught to simply learn from every mistake and don’t make the same mistake twice. As long as we do that, we will be ok.
Also, our staff. We can’t stress enough how lucky we were at a young age to have such incredible staff fall into our laps. These people stood by us no matter what.
Contact Info:
- Address: Toscana Ristorante – 3 Bourbon St. Peabody, MA 01960
Toscana Bar Italiano – 90 Rantoul St. Beverly, MA 01915 - Website: www.toscanaspeabody.com www.toscanabaritaliano.com www.mrsperrina.com www.nutremealplans.com
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