A chat with Giovanna Eusebi, founder and owner of Eusebi's Deli, an award-winning Italian restaurant (and institution) in the West end of Glasgow.
152 Park Rd, Glasgow G4 9HB
Open 7 days/ 8am to 11pm (last orders 8:30pm)
In my years as a business owner, I always looked at Giovanna as an example to follow, a person I would go to for advice and guidance.
Even if the years that divide us are not so many, I always found the caring hug of a mother in her.
I felt pretty emotional in listening to her story from the beginning.
Through her eyes, I have seen the stories of three generations like in a movie.
The beginnings in her family shop in Shettleston where she and her brothers grew up, the touching moment of losing her father, the ambition of building her restaurant after, and the pride of being where she is now. Gaining the success her business deserves, I would add.
This is also a conversation about Italian food (who knows me knows this is a hot topic for me), trying to understand its development but also focused on the values Giovanna is bringing to the table and her philosophy in running Eusebi daily.
As chance would have it, Paolo Nutini, (another Scot Italian) was our background music for all the chat: can you ask for more?
Your family has a story linked to Glasgow, Giovanna. As you say "born in Italy- made in Glasgow.
How your passion for authentic Italian food is born?
I think the passion has always been there. It is at your table every night, every day. You can't avoid it.
It is in your face. You are living and breathing without knowing it. You can do something with it and run with it or you can do something else in life. It was always like background music for me.
The story of my family back in Italy is connected to the land: my grandparents were farmers and my great-grandparents were as well. From farm to table, biodynamic agriculture even before that term was classified.
But I cannot say this was really where my journey was going in my 20s. I went to University, done different working experiences. I always found myself attached to the small deli my parents had.
My life changed when I had my first child. It was back then that I decided that joining my parents was the right choice to make. It was not easy as I have to juggle a bit but I just loved what I did, I absolutely enjoyed every day in my wee shop.
I loved the atmosphere of all the women cooking together. There was my mum, an old Italian auntie, another old Italian lady Maria and there was Anne that worked with us.
There was a great connection: all these women kneading dough, working together, rolling pasta together. My dad serving in the shop. It was a really happy time, the best wee home.
Glasgow in the old days had one of the biggest Italian communities and still has. And big was also the Italian community in Scotland. I am reading a book by Joe Pieri - The Scot- Italians and it is a beautiful testimony of how Italians found their place in Scotland. You lived a bit of this, if not directly, through your family. How was Glasgow back then? How was bringing and supplying Italian food?
I am not that old, she laughs, but to give you an idea in the 70s you could only buy olive oil in the chemist. You see the transformation that happened. Now you can find plenty of Italian food in supermarkets and there are many more Italian deli shops where you can find high-quality products.
Twenty years ago it was not so easy. I was bringing stuff on my own at that time: my own pallets of olive oil, I was bringing all my beautiful panettone, and believe me this costs already a lot and was not easy to sell. Bringing these artisan panettones 20 years ago in Glasgow?
I ended up doing pop-ups when they were not as popular. Prince Square, Country living fair to mention some. Back then it was something completely new here. I was taking myself all around the city, bringing myself to my audience rather than the audience coming to me.
The Italian community was big. People were coming over from Lanark, Coatbridge, Dundee, from all outside of Glasgow to come and stock up on from us. We were stocking at least 22 shapes of pasta, you could find so many meats and cheeses and all the homemade bread and pizza.
We were ahead of time in a very sustainable way before supermarket culture came up.
It was real food made by real people.
I guess you and your brothers grew up being in the shop and building so many memories.
As a child, I was always in the back shop somewhere because my mum did not have anyone to look after us when she was in the shop.
The deli was a social place, I still remember that special noise, people's stories are moving through your stories, there was not even a line with customers, we did not call them customers, they were friends. Even if they were not coming to buy, they just passed by to say hello every day, to check if you were doing all right. There was this kindness, a real sense of community.
Shettleston has a really special place in my heart. My dad was born there, went to school there, we were raised there. Shettleston made us feel welcome, it was good to us. It was there we were making all that good food, selling natural wines already twenty years ago. Innovating has always been part of my soul, who I was, the shop was a reflection of me.
So I think it was time for a big change, a new step for Eusebi.
I think the step has always been there.
After the sudden loss of my father, the shop has never felt the same, it just felt empty.
We worked together every day, I missed everything, I missed his waistline in the background, his laugh. It was a friendship, it was not just my father.
I loved waking up in the morning, going there, and working with him. I miss that bond.
It was always a plan to come to the west end at some point. I was in my late 30s or early 40s, I was ambitious, I think it was the right time for this.
A series of events and probably the constant thought of my father brought us where we are now.
My brother found this shop. The area was desolate, there was not much on this street at that time, it was very run down. It took us about 8 years, it was a real journey to get all things up and running. It took time but we never compromised our values.
The same values we had there we have here: honesty in food, making it from scratch, seasonality.
In the wee shop, we never did fake Italian food, it was always real Italian food made by real people and this was the natural progression of the story.
The deli counter and the restaurant. We have never done the latter before but I was determined to make it work also introducing new things like our roman pinsa.
We wanted to show the public in Scotland the diversity of Italian food, take them out of their comfort zone. We are surely still making mistakes, I consider it a constant learning journey, my motto is we will do a bit better every day.
A big change. Not only a new concept but also the responsibility of building a much bigger team and making it work.
Yes it was! The first year we were open 7 days, my brother and I worked from 7 am until 12 am. We were absolutely exhausted but we were building something important.
Definitely, the hardest is building your team because everything is about it. They are so important to us. I have an incredible team of people that really cares about Eusebi, they take ownership as well. I have huge gratitude, you can't grow without people. There is a sense of family and as in a family we have we talk frankly, we consider feedback a precious moment to build a good relationship.
The only thing I ask my staff when they come to work is to bring their best self, show up, look smart, be happy to be in this environment, be happy to make people happy.
The concept you brought has been different and new for the Glasgow Italian food scene.
We need to understand there is a lot of history behind the food we eat, especially abroad and we need to look at it thinking with the flexible eye of the past. And working on this to improve every day.
Absolutely. When people came here in the 30s, 50s, 60s they could not bring the ingredients we had in Italy. They had to adapt, they were resourceful, they were entrepreneurial. They opened up ice cream shops, fish and chips, they made pies. They put cream in carbonara, you could not get pecorino or guanciale.
We need to understand why Italian food was exported in this manner. People that emigrated to the United States, Canada, Australia, and they were survivors, they were leaving Italy for a better future and not to go on holiday, they had to make a living whatever it took.
The situation started to change in the mid-80s and 90s. We have to be thankful to people like Carluccio's and Jamie Oliver, to mention some, for bringing on board new generations and communicating in a way that people understand.
Food is also an extension of our emotions I think. I am very emotional about the restaurant, I am very emotional about the chefs, the food we serve and how we present it everyday.
"il cibo e' una cosa seria" as we Italians say- (Food is a serious thing)
I guess the values we have in our every day life are reflected in our businesses. They are part of the food we present to our customers. Strong work ethic, honesty, generosity are at the base of a great experience.
I guess over the years people asked us to grow and do other things. I think everything in life is about contentment, I am content where I am. We are growing this business organically.
For us was very important to continue to serve real food to our customers. We still do this bringing the highest quality products from Italy and doing all the dough, all the pasta, all the cakes in house.
We have opened a small bakery where we had our shop in Shettleston with 5 pastry chefs, we are completely an artisan business.
Also the most precious lesson I learned in these years of business is that what do in your life has to be true, authentic.
I cannot present a plate of food to somebody and tell them that is organic or made from scratch if it is coming from the freezer.
I have that honesty, I care about people and I care about what I feed people as I care about my own children. And this is the approach I have to everything I do. Money has never been the objective, I value people over commerce, I value the journey people have made with our business, if they worked with us, their families, I valued that more than the actual commerce itself.
I think if you make good food people would come. Everything you do has to be done with a good heart. You can't do anything in your life that is not driven by this principle.
I do what is right for me. Bring the values we have on the tables, we never sold them out despite the hard times the sector is going through. I am giving people the super best even if the margins we are making are not the greatest.
I want people to be able to come here, even if it is for a coffee, I want them to know there is always something for everybody. It is about inclusivity, it is always been at the heart of our business, from when we were in our wee shop in Shettleston. The place where our family journey started taught us everything. The legacy we have with it is still alive and it is reflected in our shop every day.
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