We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marco and Arlene Pacelli a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Marco and Arlene, thanks for joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
In our opinion, “Going from idea to Execution” is the equivalent of making a dream come true, and just like someone said, if you can dream it you can achieve it. Opening your own business is not hard, is just time consuming and you need to be relentless and fearless if you truly want to do it.
When opening your own business, you have to realize that succeeding is the only option you have to make your dream come true, and if you truly want to succeed you need to be ready to give it everything you can, and most likely make choices that will potentially force you to temporarily or permanently give up other important matters in your life.
Of course the choice is always yours and if you stay focus on your own true values, eventually all pieces of the puzzle will fall into place swiftly.
As two people who had stable jobs and debts to pay, we had to come up with a plan that would help us transitioning from our current job to our newly created job, with out putting excessive financial distress on us.
The first things we did, we decided to spend all our free time studying and learning what were the missing opportunities in the market place.
Each day off, we would go visit what we considered at the time the most successful businesses in the SoCal region and pretty much disect every aspect of these businesses: Demographic, Offering, Quality of Products, Pricing, Geographic Location, Reviews, etc…
Meanwhile we educated ourselves by attending several type of free training provided by the chamber of commerce and small business association, as well as reading book of all kinds to learn all thing business management.
The idea of studying te market, was not to imitate anyone, in fact it was quite the opposite: create something that did not exist and that could elevate the lifestyle of any potential consumer.
Throughout the entire process, the first step was pretty much a hobby we had (essentially put in writing what was our dream project) assuming we had all the money and resources available.
Granted we had neither, but this was not important yet.
After almost six months of research and study, we suddenly find ourselves ready to create the very first draft of the business plan.
A business plan is an essential exercise that help you giving life to the vision in your head; furthermore this also help you understanding what are the missing pieces of the vision, allowing you to expand your knowledge on areas that perhaps were not initially considered.
To write a business plan, it can take anything from one to three weeks, working on average of 8 hours a day.
Once the first draft is written, it might take you several other corrections and equal amount of time to refine and address all the missing parts.
In our case, I believe we revised it almost forty times. This is the time consuming part.
A quality business plan, will included “the why, the what, and the how”, using al kinds of solutions that best help to communicate your vision to anyone who will be involved in such project and also measure you progress one the business is opened.
The best part of the business plan? We eventually figured out what exactly we wanted to start with and what kind of money we would need.
The beauty of all this? This is America and out there there is always going to be someone willing to pay for good ideas.
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 back background and context?
We are the owner of Fatto A Mano, The Pasta Shop. Started on 2019, Fatto a Mano, The Pasta shop is an Italian Take Out created for people who appreciate traditional homemade pasta and Italian food made from quality ingredients, sophistication free and following traditional recipes from the mediterranean peninsula. At our Pasta Shop you can find just about any type of pasta from Spaghetti to Pappardelle as well as Gnocchi and Ravioli, you can have them with any traditional sauce: Pesto, Tomato and Basil, Cacio e Pepe, Bolognese and more seasonal sauce.
In addition to Pasta we are proud to offer Roman Style Pizza, by the sheet or by the quarter, made with our 72 hours matured dough that makes the pizza a lot lighter and enjoyable. A variety of appetizers, salads and Italian pies are also available.
The things we are most proud of is our product: we are obsessed with quality of product and integrity of service; our visitors give us the opportunity to earn their trust, we don’t give this privilege for granted and we want every single one of our follower to feel wanted and embraced like a family member.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
In our experience some of the most important lessons was to reinvent our marketing approach.
In the restaurant business specifically, during the past ten or fifteen years, most cosmopolitan cities in the US have been transitioning from a consumer who come to the restaurant asking to cook whatever dish was craved, to a more open minded consumer in search of an unprecedented experience that can teach, surprise and inspire.
When you think of an Italian Restaurant in the US, often people imagine Alfredo, Spaghetti Meatball, Garlic Bread, and so forth.
The truth is, no proud native Italian would ever eat any of it, and as authentic Italian Pasta Shop we learned that polarizing our brand was the right thing to do, to attract a clientele who could appreciate and support our effort and help anyone out of this circle to perhaps opt to options that suit best their preference.
This approach help everyone having the right expectation BEFORE coming to visit us and also accepting as our Pasta Shop with a more open mind.
In our book, a good business transaction is defined as something you get in exchange of $$$ and that in time you will remember for its value and worth with no regret whatsoever.
Anything less than this, we don’t consider it a good business transaction.
With this spirt, don’t be afraid to polarize your brand and focus on a demographic and following that fully embrace your goal. This will surround you with very loyal people who will protect and embrace your brand.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
We believe that our Pasta Shop provide an excellent product, however what people like the most of what we do is probably the most important asset of our business, our People. We are a small husband and wife operation with five associates from different background.
Despite our small number of people, when entering our Shop it feels like we have a welcome committee where every single one of our team member greets you.
Throughout the experience, we often learn about our visitors and exchange all kind of uplifting conversation, we talk about our pasta business, we talk about life matters, we get to learn all kinds of funny things kids say, and so forth.
In essence by the time you leave our Shop you have been fed in your stomach and most importantly in your heart.
As cliche as it sounds, our team member are very special individuals who understand the importance of being themselves and gifting each and everyone of our visitors with kindness and love.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pastashoprb.com
- Instagram: pastashoprb
- Yelp: https://biz.yelp.com/biz_info/pdkhgRUIjcBGJUyemWJCsw
Image Credits
Marco and Arlene Pacelli