Minneci brothers’ secrets: Food, friendliness, respect
CHAMPAIGN – How do two couples work together daily for 25 years without killing each other, divorcing each other or splitting up the business?
“We respect each other. We talk about it,” said Maria Minneci, who works at Minneci’s Ristorante with her husband, Pete, and his brother and sister-in-law, Joe and Mary. “Communication is the best way to run a business.”
That’s the recommendation she gives Rob Meister and Jim Bier, who acquired the Italian restaurant from the Minnecis last week.
Minneci’s Ristorante marked 25 years in business Jan. 3.
Joe Minneci credits the restaurant’s popularity with customers to “the family atmosphere.”
“They know who they’re going to see and what they’re going to get,” he said.
The Minneci family, sitting from left, Mary, Joe, Pete and Maria Minneci, join new owners Jim Bier, background left, and Rob Meister, background right, at Minneci’s Ristorante in Champaign on Tuesday, June 24, 2008. By Heather Coit
What they saw most often was Joe, who calls himself the “front guy” while brother Pete works in the back. Never at a loss for words, Joe admits being “kind of the clown of the restaurant,” working to endear customers to the place.
“He’s very good with people,” Mary Minneci said.
But the food also casts a spell. Mary said the most popular items include “the meat sauce, meatballs, Italian beef, minestrone – it’s always the basics that outsell everything else.”
The Minnecis said during the last year or so, they’ve been open to the idea of selling the restaurant.
“We are the four main components of the operation, and if one takes off, we have problems,” Joe Minneci said.
Although the children of both couples have worked in the restaurant, none was very interested in taking over the business. They saw the long hours involved and didn’t want that for themselves, he said.
Maria Minneci recently had hip replacement surgery and found she enjoyed being off work for recuperation.
“To me, it’s a luxury,” she said.
But Pete and Mary plan to stay on under the new owners.
“I really do enjoy cooking,” Mary said. “It’s my passion.”
And what’s next for Joe?
“I’m 55 years young,” he said. In a few weeks, he said, he’ll start looking for a full-time job. But he vows it’s not going to be a restaurant job or anything related to a restaurant. It won’t involve weekend work or anything that will prevent him from being home with Mary at 6 p.m.
Meister said he’s learned one thing for sure from Joe, and that’s how to treat people. He said on the rare occasion when Joe has a customer who can’t be mollified, Joe thanks them and tells them, “God bless you.”
“People are going to be people, and you have to move on to the next person,” Joe explained. “When you wish them well, you’ll be able to go home and get to sleep.”