Giovanni

When I joined Carluccio's in 1999 I was very excited as I had just been offered the role as waiter in the very first restaurant in Market Place. I knew then that Carluccio's was the place I wanted to work.  I'm Italian, and this was the closest thing to my grandmother's cooking that I had seen in the UK. The Management team members were very hands-on and everyone involved was passionate about the concept. I was lucky enough to be involved in the opening of the initial Caffe's and found it was a fantastic experience to pass on my knowledge of Italy and Italian food to new members of the team. What I enjoyed about the role of General Manager was that I was able to drive the sales by maintaining the standards, developing the team, working closely with the chefs, running seasonal food demonstrations, organising mushroom markets and helping evolve new dishes. I enjoyed every minute, from the opening to the closing of the restaurant, talking to customers and receiving their positive feedback.

Now I'm an Operations Manager I see my role is to inspire my Managers to be successful and to strive to move Carluccio's forward to ensure our continued success. They all need to work with passion and truly love what they do.  Better still, they need to pass this attitude and work ethic to their Managers, Chefs and team members.

Working for Carluccio's is about everyone having the same ethos - I've put my heart into Carluccio's, and I believe this is what makes us different and successful.