Luca Infantino is building an expanding culinary activity in New Jersey. Its diamond tip, Alessio’s Café, and the new initiative Casa Italia Gourmet Market are at the heart of an ambitious project based on the quality and promotion of Made in Italy.
Alessio’s has become a destination for Italian cuisine lovers — especially pizza — in Hoboken and Jersey City. What is Casa Italia Gourmet Market, its new venture launched in April?
Yes, we have become a local point of reference and the goal is to grow even more. I opened our first place, Alessio’s, at the beginning of 2020, just before the outbreak of COVID. Today we have three locations and two more are planned: one at Weehawken in September 2025 and another in Jersey City in December 2025.
In April, we inaugurated Casa Italia Gourmet Market, which was born from the need to offer consumers a wide range of genuinely Italian products. During the COVID we had inserted some retail products within Alessio’s, but over time we had to remove them to make room for more seats, given the growing demand. With Casa Italia we are now building partnerships with Italian companies and we are preparing to launch our e-commerce site, which will allow customers across North America to receive shipments directly at home.
What are your goals for Casa Italia Gourmet Market?
The aim is to raise Alessio’s Café and Casa Italia in parallel, adding locations in the same areas to create synergy and strengthen the brand. Italy has an extraordinary cultural and gastronomic heritage, and we intend to promote it through everything we do.
How was customer response these first months?
The answer was warm and supportive. It is not easy to find authentically Italian products here, and people appreciate it very much. Moreover, Italy is becoming an increasingly important tourist destination for Americans, and familiarity with our products and regional specialties often pushes them to organize trips — not only towards the most famous destinations of the country, but also to less known destinations such as Umbria, Abruzzo and hidden corners of regions such as Puglia, Campania and Sicily.
What are your goals for the future?
We have great ambitions to continue to grow both the brand Alessio’s and the spin-off Casa Italia. In the next one-three years I would like to open a new home a year. Then, within three-five years, we will evaluate the situation in terms of profitability and reputation of the brand.
For now I have done everything with my hands — without external investors — and it is something I am really proud of.
Article Luca Infantino’s American challenge doubles: after Alessio’s arrives Casa Italia Gourmet Market comes from IlNewyorkese.
