The Story of One Emigrant Part V: Where We Are Today

When we last left off, the business was steadily growing and Angelo was ready to retire and enjoy life with Romana. The whole family worked and, eventually, the business was entrusted to my parents, Robertino and Antonella.

The Story of One Emigrant

Storia di un Emigrante

Part V: Where We Are Today

When we last left off, the business was steadily growing and Angelo was ready to retire and enjoy life with Romana. The whole family worked and, eventually, the business was entrusted to my parents, Robertino and Antonella.

In the summer of 1999, my grandfather, Angelo, sat down and hand wrote his story at the request of my mother. I consider myself blessed to not only have his story written down, but to still have him with me to continue teaching us and to answer our many questions.

Sadly, in 2004, we lost our matriarch when my grandmother, Romana, lost her battle with cancer. We miss her immensely, but cherish the time we spent with her and the memories we have with her. We do our best to honor her in every way possible including expanding the La Bella Romana products to include more prepared foods. Anyone who knows my grandmother knows that she was the best cook and loved preparing meals for people, so what better way to honor her legacy than to have meals available for our customers that feature her name and picture. 

Today, we are still that same family owned and operated business, operating with a foundation of hard work and family. You can often find Angelo at the stores. He makes his rounds and goes to multiple stores a day to overlook operations. He watched with pride as our family opened more stores and grew his name. As we grew, we expanded our product lines. We offer our customers a diverse assortment of international, traditional, healthy, and organic foods of the highest quality– the same goal he had when he came to America many years ago.

I am one of 5 children, all of us are involved in the family business. My siblings and I know we have big shoes to fill and strive to make our parents and grandparents proud. We are lucky to have incredible influences who made endless sacrifices for our family. 

Our story is still continuing, but we thank God and our loyal customers for taking this journey with us.

 

 What better way to close Italian Heritage Month than with a quote from that handwritten story: 

Now, that little girl in braids has become my wife and a nonna. That crazy guy that preferred work over school is very proud of what he accomplished in life. Believe me, I would do it over again and again, making very few changes. What is important is that we are very blessed to be healthy and to be more in love with each other than ever. We love to travel, but our favorite thing to do is enjoy time with our grandchildren. 

I am so proud of what we have accomplished so far and can’t wait to see what the future holds.

       -Angelo Caputo

Ps. If I knew grandchildren were so much fun I would have had them first!”

 

 

From Our Family To Yours

 

9 Replies to “The Story of One Emigrant Part V: Where We Are Today”

  1. What a great story!! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and reliving the original store on Harlem. I then moved to Addison and was thrilled when they opened a store there. Likewise after moving to Elgin, Caputo’s followed me there and we continued to enjoy Caputo’s.

    Thank You Angelo

  2. I’ve been going to Caputos from the time I was little girl way back in the 70’s. We also emigrated and Caputos was the only place that reminded my parents of home
    I enjoy shopping there and all the variety of products you carry from all over the world. Thank you

  3. Thank you for sharing your family’s heartwarming story. We look forward to all of your stores flourishing for generations to come. Cherish your Italian heritage and always keep your family close.
    Thank you Mr. Angelo Caputo!!

  4. Thank you so much for sharing your story. I loved reading the story through the talented writers eye. Angelo has done a great job and I’ve enjoyed reading the history of Caputos. Thank you again for sharing!

  5. Such a wonderful story. It makes me so proud to be an Italian American. I love all the Caputos’ stores and enjoy all the wonderful
    Italian and worldly products that are provided there. God Bless Angelo and I know he has many more wonderful ideas and stories to come.

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