Friday Fail with Café L’Appetito: The Value of Knowing Your Business DNA
Friday Fail with Café L’Appetito: The Value of Knowing Your Business DNA
In this season 3 Back of the Napkin Friday Fails episode, sibling second generation small business owners Licia Accardo and Tony Spatara of Café L’Appetito, share how a failed concept taught them the value of staying true to their business DNA. Read the episode recap.
Dusty Weis:
Greetings, innovators, and welcome to Back of the Napkin, where we explore big journeys in the world of small business, with the personalities who make it happen. Welcome back to another one of these bonus segments that we like to call Friday Fails, I'm Dusty Weis.
Karen Stoychoff:
And I'm Karen Stoychoff.
Dusty, it seems like everything is on the fast track for Licia Accardo and Tony Spatara, owners of Cafe L'Appetito in Chicago. The siblings assumed ownership of the family restaurant in 2010 after their dad, Anthony Spatara, passed away. The restaurant turns 40 this year, a feat very few small businesses achieve, let alone those run by second generation owners. But hard work doesn't always take the prize.
Dusty:
There have certainly been fails along the way for Cafe L'Appetito, and plenty of valuable lessons learned and fit for sharing. But before we get to Licia and Tony's Friday Fail, let's set the table and get reacquainted with them in a little thing we like to call the Fast Five, five quick questions to learn more about our small business owner guests. You guys ready? First and foremost, Karen, I'm going to let you ask this one because I don't know how to pronounce these things
Karen:
Capellini or pappardelle?
Tony Spatara:
Capellini.
Licia Accardo:
Oh, pappardelle for sure.
Dusty:
What is the most popular Cafe L'Appetito menu item?
Licia:
It would be the Italiano, or classic Italian sub.
Karen:
What is your favorite latte art?
Licia:
Well, Tony doesn't really do latte art. Coffee's my thing, but I love making a heart on top of the lattes.
Dusty:
What would you say is the most gratifying thing about sharing family recipes with your customers, Tony?
Tony:
I'd say seeing the reaction of the customer when they come back after they've had it, just they're like, "That was the best sandwich. Ever."
Karen:
And what did you learn most from your dad about running a small business?
Licia:
Always be present.
Dusty:
We're talking to Licia Accardo and her brother, Tony Spatara, owners of Cafe L'Appetito in Chicago. Your family spent decades establishing a reputation throughout the city and Licia, your dad envisioned a new location in the suburbs. What was he thinking when he was thinking suburbs there?
Licia:
Well, we thought about doing a L'Appetito in the suburb that we live in. So we always saw this one space, they were going to revitalize the downtown area and this space was perfect. I had little kids at the time, so we thought, "Oh, this is good. We could open a restaurant here and it'll be really convenient and I can run the shop." So we opened, but we learned that in the suburbs, our concept doesn't really work. People that live in the suburbs tend to flock to the big corporate boxes.
Licia:
I think that's why we don't see a lot of small business owners, as far as restaurants. It's very difficult to make it and there's no traffic, all of our locations are in places where we have very heavy traffic and that's where we would ultimately always open a space because you want a captive audience, you want that business. We thought, "Well, people will drive there. There's a parking lot, it's a destination." But we found that it just really didn't work. And we also have a lot of different things going on under one roof, we have a deli, we have a coffee bar, we had Italian goods. So, when you have all of these different things under one roof, you thrive on volume and if you don't get that volume, it just didn't work.
Licia:
So, then we actually changed concepts. After about two years of our lease, we had a five-year lease, I believe. We decided to open a restaurant, a sit-down restaurant. That was my father's idea, he wanted to take the existing space and try and do whatever we could to generate more business. That honestly just did not work because I don't think that we had the same passion behind it, because it was nothing that we really knew about, because we were used to operating a small deli and cafe, not a full sit-down white tablecloth restaurant with a bar and a waitstaff. That was not what we were about. So, I think it just never worked out and we made that decision to just move out of the suburbs.
Karen:
Now, you resisted and then ultimately relented when your dad wanted to change the concept, partly because you were trying to preserve something. You had the five-year lease and so it was at that point, "Let's give it a go, we've got to try something," but by resisting, then relenting, what did you ultimately learn from that experience?
Licia:
Well, I learned that as a small business owner, especially a restaurant, you don't want to be something that you're not, and that was the perfect example because it's just not who we are. It's not our concept and we really need to, in the future stay true to our concept, and that's what people love.
Dusty:
You know, Licia, you talk about the dynamic with your dad and going back and forth about whether to open the location, and whether to change the concept, and all that. Families are complicated enough as it is, but then you drag a business into it, and the father daughter dynamic, what did you learn about exercising your voice as a business leader and a daughter throughout that experience with the failed suburban location?
Licia:
It was challenging. It was hard. My dad and I, people tell us, well told my dad too, that we're very stubborn, hard-headed, my brother's nodding. I mean, I'll admit it, yeah, I'm hard-headed. I'm a lot like my dad, so we used to butt heads a lot. I didn't agree with him on this, but I knew that it was so important to try and save whatever we had, because you do spend a lot of money on a build-out, you hire people, you're invested. It's a big investment. So, it was challenging, but it was a business decision and we made it work. In the end we just figured it out, like we always do.
Tony:
I feel like we get along really well. In this business, many Italians, Italian families, especially with the brothers, seem to have really bad falling outs. I think my sister and I, we work together well, we never really stay mad at each other if we don't agree on something. I mean, we can tell each other anything we're feeling without hurting anyone's feelings. So it works, it works. I know a lot of families don't, but it works.
Karen:
Ultimately, failure helped shape you in the business. What makes Cafe L'Appetito unique to the Chicago restaurant scene?
Licia:
I think it's unique, number one, because we are a family business. I mean, honestly, it's unheard of, if you think about it, sit back and think, 40 years? The other day, I was just thinking about our anniversary coming up. It's October 12th, we opened on Columbus Day in 1981 and I was driving to work and I'm thinking, "Oh my God, 40 years, how is this possible?" Thinking about how many places we've seen open and close over the years. That is unique because I think people know, at least our true customers, they know all the hard work that has gone on behind the scenes.
Licia:
So many of our customers knew my dad very well, and they knew that he was always there watching over everything. So, I think there's a comfort thing when they come into our store and they know that they're going to be taken care of and we always provide the same quality. I think that's huge too, because today, especially with everything that's going on with COVID and supply chain issues, and so many places are having to either get rid of menu items or cut costs by changing ingredients or making things smaller. We haven't done any of that and I think people appreciate it. Just the quality alone is something that people love. I mean, you can't really go anywhere else in the city and get what you get at our restaurant. I think that makes us stand out.
Dusty:
Well and it's the kind of unique dining experience that you can really only create if you've had an experience where you got into a spot that was really not your strong suit and realized, you know what, we've got to walk away from it. So the business is growing, you've announced again, the big United Center deal that you've got going on and you guys just have so much to be proud of. So, thank you once again, Licia Accardo, Tony Spatara, for joining us on Back of the Napkin and for sharing your Friday Fails.
Karen:
That's what we have for this episode. Make sure you're subscribed in your favorite podcast app. We'd appreciate it if you dropped us a review and a five star rating.
Dusty:
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Karen:
Thanks to the head of SurePayroll marketing, Jenna Shklyar and our production partners, Podcamp Media.
Dusty:
Where we provide branded podcast production services for businesses. Our editor and producer is Larry Kilgore III. Thanks for tuning in to Back of the Napkin, I'm Dusty Weis.
Karen:
And I'm Karen Stoychoff.
