The House That Pasta Built

By Joe Fresta

This book is based on a true story, about a group of second-generation Italian /Sicilian kids from The Hill in South St. Louis, and their dream of building a successful chain of Italian restaurants. They had no money in the beginning, but it did not stop them from embarking on a roller coaster path to success.

They faced one trauma after another, survived the early tragic death of one of the founders, and took on heavy debt to buy out the other original founder. They survived the 1980s when the prime rate reached a record high of 20 per cent, barley keeping the doors open, and struggled for two years.

Two other partners relinquished their ownership to be relieved from the debt at the bank, leaving the business to three partners, Joe Fresta, John Ferrara, and Kim Tucci. That trio never lost hope, nor the 'Dream'. Throwing in the towel was not to be. Negative was not part of their vocabulary. The desire to succeed, overcame all the traumas, recessions, and financial difficulties. The business survived even the untimely death of their leader John Ferrara, and Kim Tucci's battle with cancer, and his passing.

And then Covid, shutting down the day-to-day operation in 2020; reopening with 25 percent seating capacity. Perhaps survivor of the fittest was coined for this story, it seemed to hang over the business, like a dark cloud on a rainy day in April. And then it was down to one, Joe Fresta outlived his partners and all the traumas, and runs the business today, as if it was ordained from the beginning, fifty years ago.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 9, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685267971

Book preview

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The House That Pasta Built

Joe Fresta

ISBN 978-1-68526-796-4 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-68526-797-1 (Digital)

Copyright © 2022 Joe Fresta & Joe Reina

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Table of Contents

Preface

The Players

Key Men

Prologue

The Hill, the Late 1950s

Andreino's

The Trattoria

Joe Fresta

Kim Tucci

The Buyout, Richard Ronzio

Financial Problems

1982, Sam Garanzini

1985, John Harris

1989

1997

Chapter 12

2009

2014, Kim Tucci

Succession

It's Just Me Now

Epilogue

About the Authors

To J. Kim Tucci

Preface

When my wife and friends found out I intended to write a book, they all hesitated and said, Are you serious? I told them everyone always asks me how The Pasta House Company came to be. So I decided to sit down and explain how it began.

An old friend, Joe Reina, had just finished writing his first book, The Goat Sleeps in the Kitchen, a memoir about his mother, an immigrant from Sicily. He offered to help me write the story. Having grown up on The Hill, the Italian community in St. Louis, Joe knew all the players in The Pasta House story, beginning in 1967 with the Rich and Charlie's restaurant.

I sat down with Joe to discuss what I remembered of the past years. It is really a fairy tale! The partners—Richard Ronzio, Charlie Muggavero, John Ferrara, Joe Fresta, Kim Tucci, Marty Ronzio, and Emil Pozzo, with the exception of Kim Tucci—grew up on The Hill. Kim grew up in North St. Louis. We all had one thing in common, our Italian/Sicilian heritage. The story is a wild one.

The story begins with our authentic Italian/Sicilian culture and how it has impacted our family values and how we have instilled it in our employees.

Our mission early on was to create a family-friendly Italian restaurant, and we set our standard in 1974 when we opened our doors as The Pasta House Company.

Over the past fifty years, we have worked diligently to create an atmosphere that focuses on serving families high-quality food at reasonable prices.

Beyond the in-house dining experience, we have developed programs to give back to the St. Louis community, establishing philanthropic values in our culture via our Caring & Sharing Program. Our dedication to family is rooted in all our efforts.

We have had our ups and downs like most success stories. The good news is we have survived.

Join me on this wild and crazy ride. It is proof success can still be found in this great country of ours.

Left to right: Joe Fresta, John Ferrara, Kim Tucci

The Players

Richard Ronzio

Charlie Muggavero

John Ferrara

Joe Fresta

Kim Tucci

Marty Ronzio

Emil Pozzo

Richard Ronzio, as was the case for all the partners, grew up in The Hill in South St. Louis and graduated from Southwest High School. Like most families in the post-World War II era, there was no money for college. Richard had been working all through his four years at Southwest. Most of his jobs were in the restaurants on The Hill. His brother had a pizza restaurant, and he spent a considerable part of his teens flipping pizzas. Upon his graduation from high school, he worked in a factory, Marlo Coil, for a short time. But soon the restaurant business drew him back. His long desire to open his own restaurant was the draw.

Charlie Muggavero, like Richard, attended Southwest High. And he, too, broke into the restaurant business while going to school. His first job at age fifteen was working at Gitto's Pizza on The Hill. Charlie Gitto owned the restaurant, which had been The Isle of Capri, and Charlie Muggavero started there as a busboy. When Gitto took it over, he promoted Muggavero to the kitchen, and he took over making the pizzas at age sixteen. He later worked at Rossini's Pizza, where he gained experience in a more refined Italian restaurant.

John Ferrara attended St. Louis University High School, and his restaurant exposure began at Rossini's Pizza and later at Rinaldi's, which was an Italian restaurant in North St. Louis. Later he went to work at La Chateau, an exclusive private banquet restaurant. It was while attending St. Louis U High that John met Kim Tucci.

Joe Fresta went to school at St. Ambrose Catholic grade school and graduated high school from Christian Brothers College (CBC). He and Charlie Muggavero were boyhood friends. Joe went to work busing tables at Angelo's on The Hill at age fourteen and later held the same position at Ruggeri's. Upon graduation from CBC, he went to work in the family carpentry business. Later, after he married, he purchased his father's pizza parlor and ran the restaurant at night after his carpentry day job.

Kim Tucci graduated from St. Louis University High and went to college at St. Louis University. He was from the downtown Italian neighborhood and, like the rest of the partners, worked his way into the restaurant business while in high school. He decided to teach school after graduating from college,