BUZZPreneur: Gennaro’s Cafe Italiano
BUZZPreneur of the Month
Gennaro’s Café Italiano
by Angela Kerr
Welcome to Buzzpreneur, the place to meet entrepreneurs who are kicking it up a notch in the Colorado Marketplace. This month we focus on Gennaro’s Café Italiano located at 2598 S. Broadway in Denver. The owners of the G-Spot, as it is fondly referred, Tonya Tiscanni and Irene Herrera are fun loving but no nonsense chicks when it comes to business. Together with General Manager Christine Roddy, this dream team has taken an establishment with 60 years presence in the community and transformed it to a neighborhood classic. With many improvements both internal and external including painting, lighting, building a patio and adding a mural the ladies have focused on enhancing curb appeal. And if you were wondering, Gennaro’s is correctly pronounced as Gen-ehr-os according to Tonya, who states “that is how Leonard Gennaro pronounced it.”
I caught up with the ladies in December while their gift selection was arriving for the families they would be sponsoring for Christmas, an annual community project. I was offered a Deschutes Stout, a delicious brew – one of seven they have on tap – and learned that their collaboration with Deschutes spans several years with Gennaro’s being one of the top sales teams in Colorado for the Oregon brewery established in 1988. Gennaro’s is divided by a doorway into restaurant and bar. A delicious romantic Italian meal can be followed by rocking entertainment a few steps away with daily specials that are priced to please.
Tonya, a former owner of Wash Park Lounge, Zu Denver and 60 South with Irene who owned Wired, a Coffee Shop and Deli on South Broadway met through friends 25 years ago and joined forces to take advantage of the Gennaro’s South Broadway location. Little did they know that in the early years of their business startup, the South Broadway pedestrian improvement project would nearly cost them 45% of their business for eight months due to the closure of Vassar and Harvard streets which border each side of the Café.
According to Irene the streets were utilized to store heavy equipment which did not allow access to their restaurant. In order to keep their doors open, they participated with Groupon and went from famine to feast where people were waiting for an hour to be served. Such is the life of entrepreneurs! They felt the program helped expand their business to include 1100 new clients. Tonya shared: “It took us a full 18 months to get back to the point that we were in the business model prior to the construction. A lot of our neighbors didn’t make it, they sold or went under and we hoped and prayed every day that we could keep our doors open.”
Irene then adds: “As a result, we are trying to implement SoBo, a South Broadway merchants association.” Tonya explains: “It is nice to get your neighbors to work together…so we can share customer base in hopes you can develop those new customer relationships. It is always good to keep your neighborhood tight. It is always better to work with your neighbors and work together to support each other.”
When I asked about the live entertainment facet of their business, Irene, who manages the entertainment and booking for the team leads with “We have a set budget for the bands but many of the live performers expect top dollar – so it requires negotiation; but we expect they are going to bring in followers if they want that kind of money. A lot of bands promise a lot but are not able to deliver. It is hard to determine how to pay, as many times promises of a huge fan base don’t materialize. So we start with a reasonable base and pay a percentage above based upon the turnout that is achieved.”
Irene suggested that her music booking stems from people dropping off demos to their location or referrals from Christine who manages the open mic night. Knowing their clientele and their preferences is the key. Additionally, collaborating with the artists is important to the success of the entertainment piece. Christine adds: “The bands know their fan base better than we do, so it is in their best interest to assist with posters, Facebook and promotion. I also do a lot to promote the bands by taking pictures and posting them onto our Facebook.” To this Tonya states: “Our capacity is 78 in the bar. We are not a $500 venue, but many live music venues rely on charging at the door; here we cannot do that with our regular customers. So far we have been very successful; our customers love the live entertainment and we can give local artists a place to come.”
When asking Christine about the open mic and the management of the restaurant, she reveals her personality: “I treat both responsibilities as one in the same really. It’s all about connecting with people. I do all the social media promotions for the restaurant and I think it has made a big difference, especially with open mic night which hosts up to 10 musicians who play individually and then stay to collaborate and jam. People who have driven by and have never come here don’t know what it looks like or what the vibe is. Many will say I live in the neighborhood and always wondered what it was like inside. We have a very eclectic group of customers that you can’t say belong in any one category. I can tell that I make a difference, when I make people happy and it is the reason they come back. Our employees feel the same way about working here; they love being here and they love our customers.” Irene shares: “We have different crowds for Karaoke, Bingo, Trivia, Open Mic night, and Poker is definitely a different group! We appeal to quite a diverse audience, and that is what we want.” To this Tonya adds: “We ask our staff to have an owner mentality. We are like a big family here and we want them to resolve any difficulties with our perspective in mind and to take pride in everything they do. I think this shows a lot in the relationships that we build with our customers.” With management and ownership setting the tone for this well run establishment, you are guaranteed a thumbs up experience with an incredible menu, reasonably priced at around $20 per person drinks and eats. A big celebration is planned for their 5 Year Anniversary in April ….don’t miss it.
Category: Buzzworthy2
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