Photo by George Mahe
Photo by George Mahe
On the evening of July 31, the Amighetti’s name on the awnings of the iconic restaurant at 5141 Wilson on The Hill was papered over, and later a new name—Colino’s Café and Bakery—was posted above the bakery door.
In a Facebook post from August 1, owner Anthony Favazza said, in part: “It is with a heavy heart that we announce the temporary closing of Amighetti's on the Hill. The owner/operator of that location hasn't lived up to the Amighetti standards for more than two years… We will reopen on the Hill as soon as possible.”
Photo by George Mahe
The Amighetti's store at 9631 Manchester in Rock Hill
In August 2016, Favazza (whose father, uncle, and brother run Favazza’s at 5201 Southwest) bought the rights to the Amighetti’s name, the recipes, and the brand. Favazza says that sales had been declining for decades, that “it was on life support when I bought it,” that 10 stores had dwindled to two, and he intended to breathe new life into the brand and restore it to the glory days of the '70s and '80s. Favazza began making improvements at the Amighetti’s location in Rock Hill. In 2017, he told SLM that he had two primary goals: to ensure everything was Italian and to offer healthier options. He dispensed with the chicken tortilla soup and chili, and he added ribollita, a hearty vegetable soup. He also added meatballs made from wild salmon and spinach, finished with a light tomato cream sauce. Other menu changes included a Tuscan white bean crostini, a Tuscan kale salad, and an Italian roast beef sandwich. Sales at the Rock Hill location have improved since, he says, outperforming the Hill location. Customer reviews have improved there as well.
Dominic Consolino had operated the Amighetti’s location for two years when Favazza bought it, but the two never saw eye to eye, Favazza says, adding that Consolino balked at some of Favazza's proposed improvements and menu changes, “cherry picking only the ones he liked” and refusing, in the quintessential example, to de-stem pepperoncini peppers before putting them on the Amighetti Special sandwich. "That," says Favazza, "was when I knew the arrangement would never work.”
"Consolino had the opportunity to buy the company at the same time I did, and he passed," Favazza adds. "Unfortunately, now he won't play by the rules."
Courtesy Amighetti's
Amighetti Special sandwiches from the Rock Hill location, sans pepperoncini stems.
Reached by phone this afternoon, Consolino said that he has been abiding by the agreement he signed five years ago, i.e., to uphold Amighetti's longstanding standards and practices, and that "some of Favazza's proposed changes, things that might work in Rock Hill, would not be practical or feasible at my location"—namely, adding items like kale salads and spinach and salmon meatballs, labor-intensive dishes for which Consolino felt there was little demand. "I see no problem offering different items at different places, similar to what Walmart does," he says.
And while Favazza feels that sandwiches should be made to order, Consolino maintains that "with lunch lines out the door, it just wasn't practical, either requiring additional staff—and there's a labor shortage—or resulting in long waits for sandwiches." That didn't seem advisable to him, given that customers were now used to the grab-and-go format made possible by offering sandwiches pre-made that morning. "Some of the recommendations would have caused my service level to drop," he says, "and we've always been proud of our prompt service."
Regarding the pepperoncini destemming, Consolino says doing so would release juice into the sandwich, causing it to get soggy. "People hold a pepperoncini by the stem to eat it anyway, so why mess with a standard that was set 50 years ago?"
Consolino felt that changing the flagship sandwich—which he says accounted for 50 percent of sales—was ill-advised. "It's a simple brand management issue," he said.
The Amighetti complex at the corner of Wilson and Marconi is composed of three parcels. Consolino controls two of them and rents the other one. When Favazza said he was planning on taking control of the business, Consolino (who has a two-year non-compete agreement) sold the restaurant to his wife Cathy, who reopened it August 1 as Colino’s Café and Bakery, serving a menu similar to Amighetti's.
SLM has reached out to her to discuss the new restaurant.
Meanwhile, Favazza told SLM, “I bought this brand because I love the brand. I have so much respect for what Amighetti's was and what I know it should be. I've poured my heart and soul and cash into reviving Amighetti's...and it's working. I did not want our Hill location to close. But status quo was not an option either. The Hill is and always will be our home. We will be open there again as soon as we possibly can deliver St. Louis the Amighetti quality it deserves.”
This article has been updated with comments from Dominic Consolino.
Photo by George Mahe
The Amighetti complex at the corner of Wilson and Marconi on the Hill
