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Buca di Beppo, with a heavy accent on camp, kitsch and Catholicism spicing up the decor, offer heaping helpings of the southern Italian immigrant culture of the 1940s and '50s.

Buca di Beppo, which translates roughly as "Joe's Basement," began in the basement of an apartment building in downtown Minneapolis nearly 10 years ago. Founder Joseph Micatrotto, started out working in his family's Italian restaurant businesses in Cleveland's Little Italy.

Buca Inc. reported $240.3 million in sales last year, a 37 percent increase from a year earlier. The Salt Lake location is one of 13 Buca di Beppo restaurants to open around the nation this year. All told, Buca operates 97 Buca di Beppo and Vinny T's restaurants in 26 states.
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Italian Restaurant With Catholic Decor Focuses on Family

The Salt Lake Tribune
By Kathy Gurchiek
Sunday, April 20, 2003

MIDVALE -- Heaping helpings of the southern Italian immigrant culture of the 1940s and '50s are served up at Buca di Beppo, with a heavy accent on camp, kitsch and Catholicism spicing up the decor.

    Groups of 14 to 18 people can reserve the Pope's Table, where a glass-encased bust of the pope is the centerpiece around which a lazy Susan whirls, filled with bowls of food. The seat of honor is a large wooden chair that some refer to as the Pope Chair. The Cardinal Room, painted red to match its name, is filled with photos of the high-ranking clergy members and framed vestments adorn the wall.

    Old photos of priests, the Vatican and nuns are mixed with abandon throughout the more than 10,000-square-foot building amid pictures of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sophia Loren and musician Henry Mancini while classic tunes such as "That's Amore" fill the air in Midvale at 935 E. Fort Union Blvd. A second restaurant is scheduled to open April 30 at 202 W. 300 South, Salt Lake City.

    The Minneapolis-based restaurant chain's large portions of immigrant comfort food dished up in an atmosphere replicating the decor of an Italian grandmother's house seems to have struck a favorable chord with diners. Buca Inc. reported $240.3 million in sales last year, a 37 percent increase from a year earlier.

    The new Salt Lake restaurant will be the fifth of 13 Buca di Beppo restaurants to open around the nation this year. All told, Buca operates 97 Buca di Beppo and Vinny T's restaurants in 26 states and the District of Columbia.

    Trying to transfer its success to an area dominated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may seem an interesting choice for a restaurant whose atmosphere is heavily suffused with icons of the Roman Catholic Church.

    Catholics do make up Utah's second-largest religious group, numbering about 150,000, but of the more than 2 million people that populate Utah, nominally 70 percent are members of the LDS Church.

    Despite the disconnect, market analyst Bryan C. Elliott predicts the restaurant could do well in the Salt Lake area despite that disconnect. He indicated that the restaurant's emphasis on large portions served family-style and the predominance of large Utah families could be a good match.

    "It's hard to take a family of three or four because portion sizes are meant for larger groups," and smaller parties cannot take advantage of a wide variety of servings like a larger group can, said Elliot of Raymond James & Associates.

    Buca di Beppo, which translates roughly as "Joe's Basement," began in the basement of an apartment building in downtown Minneapolis nearly 10 years ago. Founder Joseph Micatrotto, started out working in his family's Italian restaurant businesses in Cleveland's Little Italy.

    Randy Lopez, Buca marketing vice president, emphasized that Buca di Beppo is more about the culture of southern Italian immigrants and la cucino povera -- the kitchen of the poor -- than Catholicism. As the kitchen is considered the heart of many homes, diners are invited into Buca di Beppo's kitchen, where a booth can be reserved for small groups.

    "The concept is we are true southern Italian. We are more geared to the family and culture as a whole, and Catholicism definitely plays a part of the culture," Lopez said.

    That culture is as tied to the Catholic Church as it is to using red sauces, garlic and seafood from Capri, Lopez said. But at heart it's about a sense of community and family, he said, pointing out that while a priest traditionally blesses a new restaurant, Buca di Beppo has had rabbis bless an establishment.

    Lopez said the company has not received any negative feedback from Catholics or non-Catholics.

    "It really doesn't matter from what faith you come from. We're all immigrants. There is always a tie to family; there is always a tie to a religion and a faith we were brought up with.. . . Our guests come to our restaurant and they don't necessarily see it as Catholic, but as a place where we just relax," he said
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    "Buca has a wide variability in consumer response to restaurants, depending on location," Elliott said.

The Salt Lake Tribune -- Italian Restaurant With Catholic Decor Focuses on Family http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Apr/04202003/business/49337.asp