DeLaurenti Specialty Food and  Wine

One of Seattle’s jewels has always been DeLaurenti’s at Pike Place Public Market. Opened in 1946, it was "down under" at the Market, owned by Pete DeLaurenti and called Pete’s Grocery. When son Lou bought it from his father in 1973, he changed the name to DeLaurenti Italian & International Foods, Inc. In 2001, Pat McCarthy and family/business partners purchased the store, retaining the DeLaurenti name. They’ve managed to update the space yet maintain the feel that sets it apart from other stores.

Photo: Pat McCarthy enjoying DeLaurenti's wine department

The partners had been part of other businesses (Torrefazione) but wanted something less corporate. They were tired of traveling and working for someone else, and were looking for a local business to buy. They approached Lou sometime in 1998-99 about buying the store. Lou had been thinking about selling, but wasn’t quite ready. The partners moved on and purchased Pagliacci Pizza, another locally-owned business. Eventually, Lou realized his children did not want to take over the business and he sold to McCarthy and his partners.

Pagliacci and DeLaurenti’s are beloved Seattle businesses. There was a natural fear in the hearts of Seattleites (you know how we are) that things would change with new owners and we’d lose what we loved. None of the problems have materialized. McCarthy et. al. bought the businesses because they were solid already. "Our number one goal," laughs McCarthy "was ‘don’t screw it up.’ These are Seattle institutions. We couldn’t make them better, so we worked on accentuating the positives and eliminating the negatives. We wanted to be good stewards of the brand."

Under the "eliminating the negatives" category at DeLaurenti, they closed the store for 29 days in the second year and completely remodeled. They moved the café downstairs where it could be seen from the street and accessed quickly. The café is the largest growing segment of the business right now which McCarthy credits to leadership and service. They put in new flooring and air conditioning. "We had to put in a heating system," says McCarthy. "The first winter I had to call Lou and ask how to turn the heater on. He said ‘put on a sweater.’ They’d never had heat in the store."

Maintaining the chain of supply for all the great products turned out to be harder than it seemed. "Many suppliers are small and you can’t always get what you want. We go to a lot of international food shows and it’s easy to get caught up in beautiful foods. Some foods will be like ‘art in a jar,’ but you get them in the store and they don’t sell. The key is to have the right mix of interesting new ingredients and traditional, expected items for our customers—customers from four generations."

Pleased with all that the staff has accomplished, McCarthy is especially proud of the wine department. "This is the area I’d like to see grow the most. The staff is very knowledgeable and really enjoys working with the customer to pair the right wine for the meal they’re making. The wine department has always been upstairs, long before we bought the business, but people still tell us they never knew it was there." Although they offer 400-500 Italian wines, there are wines from everywhere in the world, including great Northwest wines.

Bottom line, DeLaurenti’s is in good hands. "We’re here long-term," says McCarthy. "And I hope our kids will want to keep the business going." We can all relax and enjoy again.

Connie Adams/May 2007

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