TRANSCRIPT
At two am most mornings Damian Galluzzo is hard at work, collecting fresh produce from Sydney Markets.
For the past 30 years, Mr Galluzzo and his brother Jo have run an iconic grocery business in Sydney’s inner west – locally famous for its streetside displays of fresh fruit and vegetables.
“That's the secret of the success. We go to the market six days a week. We pick everything fresh. We have a good look and we taste, especially the fruit. Very hard work, yeah very hard work.”
It’s winning formula that keeps customers coming back as Balmain resident Renay Jordan-Hawkins explains:
“My daughter-in-law put me onto it and I won't go anywhere else. I've been coming here for eight years and the freshness is fantastic. It's fresh every day.”
But Mr Galluzzo says he’s tired of 14 hour days and at 52 is ready to retire. His kids don’t want to take it on, so he’s gradually handing over to new owners. However, old habits are hard to break.
“Even though we've sold the business, I'll still get up at 1:30 in the morning to go to the markets because that's what I'm used to and that's what I love and it's very exciting there at that time in the morning - it's like a different world!”
It may be the end of an era, but the Galluzzo family remain proud of the business that was started 90 years ago by grandfather Salvatore, a migrant from Italy’s Calabria.
The doors opened in 1934, during the Great Depression when unemployment in NSW hit a staggering 32 per cent. It wasn’t easy being a migrant from Italy in those difficult days, as Mr Galluzzo often heard growing up.
“He worked and saved money to buy the place here but being a new Australian in a very Anglo area, it was very hard. But, my grandfather pushed through it and he made a lot of friends.”
Those friends stayed loyal as Salvatore Galluzzo grew the venture, eventually handing the reins to his son Frank who later passed it on to his sons Jo and Damian.
“I'm the youngest of seven, the baby boy of seven. Growing up in the family with six brothers and one sister, that was fantastic growing up here and living above the shop. We all lived upstairs. And part of our routine was to help in the shop. After school, we all we used to come home and mop the floors and do the rubbish and yeah, that was pretty much our lives growing up.”
Though Mr Galluzzo qualified for mechanical engineering and dreamed of designing cars, he started fulltime in the family business after finishing high school at the age of 18.
“Doing what my grandfather did. But they did seven days, we did seven days, but we stopped doing seven days and they were open until like 10 at night. We were only open until 7 30, 7 o'clock at night.”
And those aren’t the only changes. Computers have replaced the record books now, and more recently the Galluzzo brothers expanded into smallgoods too.
“Now we have a deli and now it's Italian influence and we stock a lot of pastas and cheeses and small goods and cold meats. So, it gives a value add for people.”
But Mr Galluzzo says their best move was finding the Flamminios, ((Flam-in-ee-OHs)) another pair of brothers with Italian heritage, to take over the business this year.
“We're so glad that we found Dan and Josh. It was very good that we found another two brothers to pass on the business to. Everything just fell in place, all the stars aligned and having such a business for 90 years and to pass that on to these two boys and with the same or more eager attitude, because I said well before we're getting tired they have got energy and vision, which is what this place needs.”
With a background in food and hospitality the Flamminio brothers are well placed to expand the iconic business. And Daniel Flamminio says there are other similarities.
“Well, the coincidence runs deep. My initial is ‘D’ and Josh’s initial is obviously ‘J’, the boys have initials of ‘D’ and ‘J’. Little did we know, they went to Christian Brothers Lewisham High School, and that's where Josh and I went.”
The Flamminio family migrated in the 1950’s from Italy’s Abruzzo, east of Rome. Drawing on those traditions, Josh Flamminio says they have big plans to extend the store’s deli offerings.
JOSH: “We've had plenty of exposure in the small goods side. And then obviously growing up in an Italian household you've got your nonna, specifically nonna cooking and utilizing all these beautiful produce and small goods as well.
DANIEL: “We've got visions of doing a made to order panini bar inside the deli. We want to introduce a fresh fruit salad. Fresh juice bar. Yeah, so we've got a lot of ideas. We want to open up the deli side so people can see inside the store more.“
Like most family business owners, they are cautious about expanding too fast in current economic conditions. Daniel Flammino explains.
“To purchase an iconic store like this, it's a humongous risk. Rome wasn't built in a day and this business has been tremendously successful for 90 years and we don't want to upset too many people too soon. But yeah look currently what we're working on is focusing on the wholesale side of the business as well. So, cafes, restaurants, pubs, clubs.”
Like most of Australia’s 2.5 million small businesses, this year the Galluzzo grocery operated in tougher times. Damian Galuzzo:
“Nothing's cheap to run a business these days and you have to watch every penny. The cost of running a business – that’s where everything costs. You've got electricity, you've got your utilities, you've got wages. My brother and I during tough times we often supported each other and hopefully that's why we're here. And so Dan and Josh, they'll understand and do the same thing and that'll get them through the hard times.”
As new owners the Flamminios remain upbeat – and hope to guide the Glebe grocery into and beyond its first century!
“If Josh and I are around in the next 10 years and we haven't killed ourselves, then we will celebrate an amazing party for the hundredth year!”
