Luca Infantino is building an expanding culinary business in New Jersey. His flagship, Alessio’s Café, and the new initiative Casa Italia Gourmet Market are at the center of an ambitious project based on quality and the promotion of Made in Italy.
Alessio’s has become a destination for lovers of Italian cuisine-especially pizza-in Hoboken and Jersey City. What is Casa Italia Gourmet Market, his new venture launched in April?
Yes, we have become a local landmark and the goal is to grow even more. I opened our first location, Alessio’s, in early 2020, just before COVID broke out. Today we have three locations and two more are planned: one in Weehawken in September 2025 and another in Jersey City in December 2025.
In April we opened Casa Italia Gourmet Market – born out of the need to offer consumers a wide range of authentically Italian products. During COVID we had included some retail products inside Alessio’s, but over time we had to remove them to make room for more seating, given the growing demand. With Casa Italia, we are now building partnerships with Italian companies and preparing to launch our e-commerce site, which will allow customers throughout North America to receive shipments directly to their homes.
What are your goals for Casa Italia Gourmet Market?
The intent is to grow Alessio’s Café and Casa Italia in parallel, adding locations in the same areas to create synergy and strengthen the brand. Italy has an extraordinary cultural and gastronomic heritage, and we intend to promote it through everything we do.
How has customer response been in these first few months?
The response has been warm and supportive. It is not easy to find authentically Italian products here, and people really appreciate it. In addition, Italy is becoming an increasingly important tourist destination for Americans, and familiarity with our products and regional specialties often prompts them to organize trips-not only to the country’s best-known destinations, but also to lesser-known destinations such as Umbria, Abruzzo and hidden corners of regions like Puglia, Campania and Sicily.
What are your goals for the future?
We have big ambitions to continue to grow both the Alessio’s brand and the Casa Italia spin-off. In the next one to three years, I would like to open one new location per year. Then, within three to five years, we will evaluate the situation in terms of profitability and brand awareness.
So far I have done everything with my own hands – without outside investors – and it is something I am really proud of.
The article Luca Infantino’s American challenge doubles: after Alessio’s comes Casa Italia Gourmet Market comes from TheNewyorkese.
