{"id":83352,"date":"2025-05-08T01:41:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T01:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/83352\/"},"modified":"2025-05-08T01:41:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T01:41:12","slug":"an-international-business-but-family-and-liverpool-is-at-san-carlos-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/83352\/","title":{"rendered":"An international business \u2013 but family, and Liverpool, is at San Carlo\u2019s heart\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

With 25 restaurants in the UK and more across the globe San Carlo is a hugely successful international business.<\/p>\n

But at its heart is home, and the family who launched it more than 30 years ago.<\/p>\n

Marcello Distefano, CEO and son of founder Carlo said:<\/p>\n

\u201c100% San Carlo is a family-run restaurant and that will always be our ethos and our heritage,\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the fears my father always had was that he didn\u2019t want to be seen as a chain restaurant, but as a family business with lots individual restaurants, and each city to feel like that restaurant was their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we have definitely achieved that in Liverpool.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are part of the community, and it\u2019s great that generations of people have come to us. And that\u2019s what it\u2019s about \u2013 the people, from the customers to the teams who work for San Carlo.\u00a0 You can have the best-designed restaurant, and of course you always make sure the food is good! But it\u2019s the people who make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Credit:Credit: San Carlo
\nMarcello adds:<\/p>\n

\u201cA restaurant is a place where people develop memories, whether they\u2019re of a birthday or a wedding celebration, or even a business meeting. A restaurant has to provide an atmosphere, and that feel-good feeling, because that\u2019s what hospitality is about.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s somewhere you can go and have a great time and forget about your worries of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Italian restaurants can do that so well, there\u2019s a certain flare and personality.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Carlo, though, excels: \u201cAnd the team in Liverpool is amazing! You walk in, and they make you feel special; they bring the whole thing to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Launched successfully in Birmingham in 1992 and then elsewhere, San Carlo arrived in Liverpool in 2009, quickly establishing itself as a \u2018must-go-to\u2019 venue.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiverpool was, and is, really important to us,\u201d adds Marcello. \u201cOpening a restaurant there was a natural progression for us in the north. Liverpool has a great buzz, and a great going-out culture. People love getting dressed up and I love all that; I think that\u2019s something that\u2019s been lost over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cManchester was a huge success for us, our whole business exploded \u2013 and Liverpool was the right place to go to next.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere really wasn\u2019t anything else on Castle Street at that time, but Bar & Grill was around there then, and we knew that\u2019s where we wanted San Carlo to be (obviously Castle Street has developed massively now).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing we realised about Liverpool is that, even though it\u2019s a big city, it\u2019s a community here where everyone knows each other and it was important to get it right, to become part of that community and embed ourselves in it, and we seem to have hit the nail on the head.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"LFCCredit: San Carlo Liverpool<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had great teams over the years, and San Carlo is still absolutely smashing it in Liverpool.<\/p>\n

\u201cSan Carlo seems to have a place in the heart of the people; and San Carlo Liverpool has a very special place in mine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor one I\u2019m a Liverpool supporter and I love the fact that we get the players in,\u201d Marcello smiles. \u201cOver the years we\u2019ve had a good connection with the club \u2013 we used to go to Melwood to cook for the players sometimes. Steven Gerrard used to ask us to go and cook all their favourite dishes; and we\u2019d cook at their houses sometimes if players couldn\u2019t go out because they had a game coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n

When restaurants were closed for nine months during Covid, as with other restaurants it gave San Carlo time to reflect on who they were as a company, how things were changing, and how they evolved as an aspirational restaurant to go to.<\/p>\n

San Carlo decided to reinvent some sites \u2013 and Liverpool became the test bed for all the new ideas and refurbishments, and what San Carlo was.<\/p>\n

That meant focusing on its Italian heritage through the design and the artwork that adorns the walls, and \u00a33.5million was spent transforming an already great venue into a spectacular one.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiverpool is my favourite one that we\u2019ve done. Sometimes everything comes together and in Liverpool it did.\u00a0 We commissioned artist Jessalyn Brooks to come from LA to create all those fabulous murals that you see, it\u2019s the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to food, Liverpool\u2019s favourite dishes are no different from elsewhere, the pasta dishes, the steaks, the lobster\u2026 but there is a huge difference in what\u2019s drunk in the city\u2019s San Carlo.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur champagne sales are some of the best in the country in Liverpool. That reflects that culture of going out, and really enjoying yourself, and we love that!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"San
\nMarcello is quick to add, however: <\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to create a restaurant in Liverpool that would wow people \u2013 and it does.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut my father used to say it was important to create a restaurant too where people felt comfortable; where you could spend \u00a310 a head \u2013 it was years ago, pre inflation \u2013 and have a great time, or spend \u00a3100 and have a great time \u2013 and feel comfortable and be treated the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said if you do that, you\u2019ll always have a busy restaurant. That\u2019s still our aim, where everyone feels special, and good.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat the key for us, for the family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love Liverpool because of the banter and the humour, and there\u2019s a spirit that you don\u2019t find anywhere else.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSan Carlo is proud to be part of the community and the city of Liverpool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Find out more about San Carlo here<\/a>.
\nFind all the latest Liverpool news here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Find out what\u2019s good up North on our new platform, The Northern Guide.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

From the best hotels, beauty spots, days out, food and more up North \u2013 visit\u00a0thenorthernguide.com<\/a>\u00a0and follow The Northern Guide on Instagram\u00a0HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n