Genaro Calafiori talks about running highly-rated Bispham restaurant, Italian Fusion
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00:00Hello there, I'm with Gennaro Calafiori at Italian Fusion on Bispum Road. It's a long established
00:07Italian restaurant but it's changed its name fairly recently. So people, some people were
00:12a little confused and thought it was a new place but Gennaro has been here, how long have you been
00:16here? About five and a half years. Okay and you were saying something interesting about Italian
00:21restaurants. People in this country, in England, have become a bit more sophisticated now. They
00:26expect a little bit more. It's the culture change because we are very looking at, we've got a
00:33platform of, we've got Indian, Chinese, French, the Italian, they're very looking around the area.
00:41They are very, very good Italian restaurants. Also as well, cooking program and the supermarket
00:46still more, let's say, Italian ingredients. So people just have a goal to cook and so when they
00:55come in the restaurant they expect something a little bit different. And how much is it a
01:00challenge for you to bring them something different? The challenge is that keeping my passion
01:10and my desire to satisfy my customers every day and just making sure that I use top ingredients
01:18and give my customers care and just be myself and just make the people have a comfortable
01:30living when they come in here. It's not just a job for you, is it? It's a passion. This is
01:34your dream, isn't it? This is what I've been trained since I was very young in my dad's restaurant.
01:38You know, doing a catering school for five years, being all over Europe, our
01:48business for me is a way of life. You sacrifice a lot. How many hours of work would you put in?
01:58Let's say from 10 to 14 hours a day still because it's the business needs.
02:07And also as well because it's all about standards. Yeah, for you it's not just about the food being
02:14good, it's the whole thing, isn't it? No, it's the packages, it's a customer's greeting,
02:19I look after customers, the music, the place have to be clean and the staff have to be polite and
02:26the food have to be presentable and tasty. And also the atmosphere of this place, it's very,
02:31very relaxed looking, it's got a lovely atmosphere, it looks the parts. How many people,
02:38is it 40 seaters? No, about 32, but we've got a dining area outside where we just
02:44done after the Covid, you know, so in the summer when we have beautiful days,
02:53not often in England, we open and we can accommodate us as well. We are very excited
03:00because they're building 196 houses next door. Wow. So hopefully the business will improve
03:07as numbers and so we need to prepare for that. Some extra customers and you've been in England,
03:14you've been in this part of the world a long time. Since 1983. Since 1983 in various different
03:20restaurants here on the far coast. Yes, I used to have a restaurant in Porton for 15 years called
03:25Genoa's and I worked in Tiki's over 25 years, Tiki's in Chantagne and I've been in a few Italian
03:38restaurants in Blackpool. I've been consulting for a restaurant, you know, Italian restaurant,
03:46they want to open a restaurant using my experience. And it's obviously paying off because
03:53the number of five-star ratings you get is incredible. I don't know if you've seen the
03:57ratings but people are giving you a lot of good reviews. It's my baby, it's what I do,
04:03it's what I know and this is what I will do until the day I retire to
04:10not work anymore. But my duty and my responsibility is to look after my customers. Excellent. Thanks