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December 1, 2008 New Ventures

Little Italy | A conversation with Milva Smith, co-owner of Giacomo's Groceria in Bangor

Founded: January 2008
Employees: 7
Start-up costs: $65,000
Projected revenue, year one: $450,000
Projected revenue, year two: $500,000
Contact: 947-3702
1 Central St., Bangor 04401
www.italianuniverse.com

Tell me about your business.

We’re part Italian grocery store, part deli, part espresso bar. We also of course make sandwiches in our deli. So [we’re] a little bit of everything. I own it with my husband. I’ve never run a business. My husband has his own business and so he’s kind of like a silent partner. I run the day-to-day but he’s an attorney, so he has a law office.

Why did you decide to open this kind of business? What appealed to you about it?

I’ve always known I was going to open a food business. Always. And I think the thing that kind of solidified it for me was I spent a year in Italy. I was getting my master’s [degree] in Italian and I just fell in love with every single food shop that I went into. I just knew that I needed to have something like that for myself.

It’s always been a part of my life. I grew up in a family-run business and for years have worked in the hotel business. I’ve always known I was going to open my own shop.

Why did you decide to open in Bangor?

Well, I had been living in Bangor. I’m originally from Portland, but I’ve been living in Bangor with my husband for several years and I just saw that there was a need. I have a lot of friends who are Italian-American and who were doing the same thing I was doing which was going to Portland, going to the North End, to get stuff that we wanted that was Italian. So I knew that there was a need there. And it kind of grew from there. I realized that it was a great match for me. It was what I enjoy doing. I love being around Italian food and talking about Italy and everything Italian and I also saw that there was an opportunity.

How did you finance the launch of the business?

Personal savings.

What are some of the challenges you’ve dealt with in the first year?

Some of the challenges, I’d have to say one of the biggest challenges has been staffing — finding the right people to work for us. You know, we were very particular about who we wanted and, you know, we had a lot of misses when we first opened and I think right now I’m really pleased with the group of people I have. But it took a little bit of trial and error for that.

Who was the ideal staffer that you were looking for?

I was looking for a foodie. A lot of our customers, including myself, we enjoy good food and we talk about food. We share recipes and it was hard finding people who felt the same way, that were passionate about the food. A lot of people had maybe sandwich prep experience or had worked in coffee bar before and that was all well and good but I was really looking for someone who was just exceptionally passionate about food and had that personality that was outgoing and really was willing to offer information to the customer.

In a lot of ways we had to alter the way we hired. We had to really, really take a look at the way people spoke about food, not necessarily Italian food either but just the way they felt about food. In fact, two of the people we ended up hiring here in the store were customers, very good customers, and so I realized that they liked what we offered and they knew a lot about what we offered.

How do you generate new business? Do you advertise?

Actually we’re just getting ready to launch an advertising campaign this week. This is our first time doing any major adverting and we have a TV commercial, a couple of TV commercials that are set to air on Time Warner that will run for 30 days, basically pre-thanksgiving to pre-Christmas time. It’s targeting the greater Bangor area.

And why did you decide to do it now?

Well, truthfully I felt that we are at a point in the growth of this store where we’re really at a great place. We really have kind of perfected what we’re doing. We have added so many different services that weren’t there originally. I felt it was a great time to start putting our name out there.

Interview by Sara Donnelly

New Ventures profiles young businesses, 6-18 months old. Send your suggestions and contact information to editorial@mainebiz.biz.

 

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