We recently connected with Anthony Marini and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Anthony, thanks for joining us today. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

To start today as opposed today is a difficult maneuver. When I graduated from CIA in 1993, the goal of an education from there was to leave and get a job in a brigade system kitchen (typically in a expensive fine dining restaurant) working your way up over the years to eventually become the chef. Now, younger chefs have so many other resources to start food businesses. If I were to do it differently today, I still would have gone to school but I would have started a smaller food outlet where the offerings were much more accessible and less expensive to people. I would channel my resourcefulness to look for a small spot or do what so many chefs have done by starting in their homes to create food.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m Anthony Marini and the Chef-Owner of The Pass in Downtown Charleston. We are a 642 square foot Italian Sandwich Shop that opened in late July 2021. I have 30 years of fine dining experience and was closing on a new restaurant in the Northeast, however as COVID entered the world – I knew it was time to pivot. I fell in love with Charleston and decided to open The Pass as it allowed me to be flexible with the times we were in. This is the first time I’ve owned a sandwich shop so I look to take my training and experience and apply it to making a great sandwich.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Prior to owning The Pass, we originally hired a Public Relations company to gain visibility of the restaurant, especially given that I was new to town. Unfortunately, we did not see a return on the investment that we made as we were not gaining any traction on social media nor in local publications. After separating from the PR Firm, we brought this in house. We did a full effort to make social media personal. We engage with every comment, every post guests have and we follow along their lives as they are part of ours. We also have leveraged content that our guests have created as this is a true representation of the experience. The biggest advice we can give in social media is to be personal, be a bit vulnerable, and be engaging.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

We are very fortunate to have regular guests join us sometimes weekly and sometimes even daily. We engage with every guest who walks in the door – asking them about their week, are they local or visiting, are they enjoying their food, etc. We believe that being in the restaurant industry is more about being in the hospitality business than the food business. It’s about keeping guests happy and them having an experience they will tell their friends & family about.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thepasschs.com
• Instagram: @thepasschs
• Facebook: @thepasschs

Image Credits
Andrew Cebulka