We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Giacomo Lazzano. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Giacomo below.

Giacomo, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

About 10 years ago as soon as I arrived in the United States in particular Atlanta for the first time in my life I looked around and I saw that I could feel good in this city as long as I could share and build something that would help me not think too much about the sicily the place where i was born, exactly palermo a big metropolis and capital of sicily. it was difficult in the early years not to smell the scents but above all, to stay away from parents, brothers and friends, I was really sad but one day while I was walking I saw that it was I noticed that around me there weren’t any places like small shops where you could eat good food with a fast food price, and it was at that moment that I had the idea of ​​creating a Sicilian gastronomy in a large metropolis like Atlanta that could serve as an example for everyone and as a meeting place for anyone wishing to travel through the history of my Sicilian culture and cuisine while sitting at a small table in a shopping center near the king and queen of Sandy Spring. after creating a simple menu with original food from Sicilian cuisine, I decided to decorate it with ceramics and objects from Sicily by exhibiting two large paintings that tell the story of love that can be born and that can become a story like that of the Moorish heads. Moro’s heads are the first images I remember when I was a child and thanks to the stories of my father who was born in the Kalza district one of the ancient villages districts he says you can eat and be struck by the historic buildings over 600 years old stories that together with the colors and the scents they catheterize why so many years of history and predominance from other peoples have given a beautiful story to tell today and tomorrow of Sicily to love.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

my passion was born from the early years of my adolescence, my father a butcher and almost all my uncles and my grandfather immersed in catering but above all I owe my mother my greatest esteem for having taught me to create good in the simplest possible way, my mother who taught me many of my recipes that today I proudly share with my customers and in particular “caponata” made with simple imported ingredients such as oil and capers from Pantelleria one of the many small islands around Sicily where the capers they are still collected by hand today, even my grandfather taught me a lot when he took me to the food markets of the city in the mornings to buy the ingredients and eat the products made by street vendors the typical products and taste the dishes of Palermo, what beautiful indelible memories in my thoughts accompanying today in recreating as closely as possible what I serve food to my customers today at My restaurant “Buon Fornello” . The name Buon Fornello was born from the idea of ​​my wife Margaret Nones who, in addition to having lived for more than 30 years in Italy like me, feeds me with a great passion for Sicily and its history, for her it seemed obvious to create the Buon Fornello brand because in addition to being a small village near Palermo it also has a pun (Buon Fornello = Small little oven). in recent years I have focused on creating new brands and names to add to my culture By creating Kalura pizza pop up and Opera artisan ice cream, these two brands give me a lot of satisfaction because my preparation in the baking sector and ancient yeasts allow me to make not only pizza, but to create any baked product that distinguishes me for knowledge and preparation and in the search for new products to create. Opera ice cream a passion that was born to overcome the sultry Sicilian days and already as a child at any day and time of the year can not miss at home, the good Gelato with simple products and few ingredients that only experience is the preparation in confectionery sector make it possible to reproduce Gelato today as it once was.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

I created my capital by working hard to make my dream come true and what I have repeated to myself many times “if you want you can” “but above all what you are looking for is looking for you” (poet Rumis)

Any advice for managing a team?

I am very present in my business and among my employees, I show them how every day I get up at 3 in the morning to produce the pasta that we sell in our restaurant and to other restaurants in the Altlanta area, I try to share the results and goals with my employees that thanks to them my restaurant holds good reviews and in 2022 they allowed us to enter nice best italian restaurant in the state of georgia

Contact Info:

• Website:Www.Buonfornello.Com
• Instagram: Buonfornello , Kalura , Opera artisan gelato
• Facebook: Buon Fornello Caffè
• Linkedin: Giacomo lazzano
• Yelp: Buon Fornello Caffè

Image Credits
Buon Fornello caffè & bottega Kalura Sicilian pizza Opera artisan gelato