A Family Tradition
by Kelly Wilson, EDGE Founder & Publisher
EDGE Business Magazine Issue 7
Hopefully, over the years, you have had the pleasure of dining at Iavarone’s Italian Steakhouse and Malio’s Prime Steakhouse. They are two of Tampa’s most iconic restaurants. I’ve had the honor of knowing the Iavarone family for over twenty years. When I first moved to Tampa in 1995, while trying to decide which path of education to continue, I worked as a server at Iavarone’s. It was a wonderful experience to work there and get to know such a loving and united family. Everyone that works for them feels as if they are part of the family. I believe that is an ingredient in their authentic recipe for success. Over the past twenty years I’ve kept in touch with the family. My family and I have celebrated many birthdays and special occasions at the restaurant. Not just because the food is delicious, but because we all feel so comfortable there. My son, Zach, also worked at Iavarone’s in his late teens (now twenty-eight). My daughter, Jada is eighteen, and I recently advised her to consider working for the Iavarone family; at this point, it’s a family tradition.
When I started EDGE Business Magazine in 2013, I knew, at some point, I would share the Iavarone story.
Iavarone History …
Carmine and Frances Iavarone, an Italian-American, first-generation family, are originally from Panorama, Italy. They met in New York and moved to Seminole Heights, Florida in 1938 with Frances’s Parents and their infant son Eugene (Gene). Frances’s parents opened a grocery store located at Highland and Buffalo Avenues (105 W Buffalo Ave. – now MLK Blvd.)
Carmine was an amazing chef and cooked meals for the neighborhood. By 1947, the small grocery store became one of Tampa’s first pizzerias and was named Carmine’s Restaurant.
Just after opening Carmine’s, twins Malio & Carmine were born. The family lived behind the restaurant. Carmine Sr. passed away in 1956, of cancer, when the twins were only twelve. The family continued to run the restaurant on their own, until they sold it 1979. Frances (Mother) passed away in 1981. In June of 1969, Malio sold everything he owned and leased the Tropics Steakhouse (301 S. Dale Mabry Hwy). Soon after, he was able to purchase it and the adjacent building in 1974 and Malio’s was born. By May of 1979, Malio’s was the place to be, with a private membership-only club that featured live music with an awesome dance floor. Over the years, 7,000 memberships were sold at fifty-dollars each. Carmine joined Malio as a partner in 1979, along with high school friends, Ray & Dennis Sanchez. Malio’s has been a Tampa landmark since it opened in 1969. Malio’s moved to the Rivergate Plaza, downtown Tampa, in 2007, as Malio’s Prime Steakhouse. Iavarone’s Italian Restaurant in North Tampa was opened in 1992, with Carmine, Carmine Jr. and Carmine’s youngest son Rico at the helm. The former grocery store/pizzeria was eventually revamped by Gino (Gene’s youngest son) and cousin Derek (Malio’s son) and, after eight years, outgrew their original location and moved just a few blocks to 1802 E. 7
th
Ave., in Ybor City, where they still are today.
The Following is my interview with iconic Restauranteurs, Carmine and Malio Iavarone, I hope you enjoy!
The interview …
Kelly
- Where does the name Iavarone come from, where is the family originally from?
Carmine:
My father was from Panorama, Italy right outside of Naples. He worked in a restaurant as a kid and learned how to cook. Then he moved to New York, where he met my mother. My mother’s Mother and Father moved to Tampa and, in 1946, opened a grocery store. He followed them to Tampa and they got married.
Malio:
My father was a tailor by trade. Back then, that is how you were able to come to the United States, you had to have a trade. He could make a suit from scratch. When he first moved to Tampa, that is what he did; he was a tailor. In 1948, the grocery store became a restaurant, and my father followed his passion and began cooking.
Kelly
- Tell us about Malio and Carmine in the early days.
Malio:
We were bad.
Carmine:
No, we were just twin brothers. We hung around the restaurant most of the time. We learned the business from our parents. We loved to make pizzas, we washed dishes. We did whatever needed to be done.
Malio:
We enjoyed making the pizzas, it was fun for us. We lived right behind the restaurant.
Carmine:
Our original house was a part of the original grocery store. When they turned the grocery store into the restaurant they cut the house off. It was quite preeminent at the time.
Carmine:
When we were growing up we didn’t have any money, but we didn’t know that, we thought we had everything.
Kelly
- Did you go to College?
Carmine:
No.
Malio:
No, we went to the University of Buffalo Avenue.
Kelly
- Is there anything about the restaurant business that stood out from your childhood experiences, that stayed with you as you were starting your own brands? What interested you most about the restaurant business?
Carmine:
We were just trying to make a living, it is what we knew, that is all we knew.
Malio:
You want to do something you know, right?
Kelly:
Absolutely.
Carmine:
We enjoyed the business and the people. We had a night club at Malio’s years back. It was the hottest night club in town.
Malio:
No doubt about it. It would seat 125 people.
Carmine:
Dance, bands, it was nice, we had the best entertainment in town.
Kelly
- Ok, let’s talk about Malio’s, what year did Malio’s open?
Malio:
1979, it was the hottest spot in town.
Carmine:
I joined Malio as a partner in 1979, when the club opened.
Kelly
- Were you always in suits?
Carmine:
Every day.
Malio:
We were bad to the bone.
Kelly
-
When did you stop wearing suits?
Carmine:
Times have changed. Everything got a little more casual. The public wasn’t wearing suits as much. We changed with the times.
Malio:
You have to dress like your customers.
Kelly
-
What do you remember most about your father?
Carmine:
He had polio as a child, he walked with a limp. Great guy, he was a great father. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1956, when we were only twelve. He worked himself to death, he was a strong man.
Kelly
-
Who inspired you most as a child?
Malio:
Our mother, she ran everything.
Carmine:
Mom, she did everything.
Kelly:
She sounds like an amazing woman.
Malio:
She was, when our father passed away, she kept everything going.
Kelly:
Was there ever any doubt that she wouldn’t?
Malio:
No, she was strong.
Carmine:
She was a soft woman, she was sweet but, she worked hard. Mom didn’t drive, she stayed at the restaurant all the time and worked. We helped and drove her around, when she needed. She was a great woman. She passed away in 1981, but, was able to see us go on and do well.
Kelly
-
Looking back at the early days, how was Tampa different?
Malio:
It was small.
Carmine:
Everybody knew everybody.
Malio:
Malio’s was the only nightclub in town, it was the hottest place in town.
Carmine:
Back in the day, you would see martinis being served all day. Not today.
Malio:
It was a better world back then.
Kelly
-
How did it become the hottest place in town?
Malio:
When we opened the night club portion, it was membership only. You had to be a member.
Carmine:
It started off as a nice steakhouse, then we added a members-only nightclub, between 1979-1981. The club really took off. The club had padded velvet walls and separate entrances for members.
Malio:
It was classy, it was good looking. The bar was white marble. It had big high-back booths and the best-looking women that you had ever seen.
Carmine:
We even had a harp player.
Kelly
-
So, let’s talk about the Memberships for Malio’s nightclub, how much was the membership?
Malio:
Fifty-dollars a year.
Carmine:
Malio’s was the first of its kind in the Tampa area. We originally got the idea from the clubs that were taking off in Miami. If you didn’t have a membership card, you could show your hotel key to get in. Any hotel key would work—it showed you were from out of town.
Malio:
We had a public side and a private side, we had everything.
Carmine:
We would have guys come up to the door and then realize it was a private membership club. They might have five or six guys with them, but the money wasn’t exuberant. They would give us their Amex and pay the fifty-dollars for everyone with them and not come back.
Malio:
We had a lot of that.
Carmine:
For businessman, what’s fifty-dollars?
Malio:
They put it on their expense account.
Carmine:
We sold a lot of memberships. We ran a full-page ad in the newspaper.
Kelly
-
I was going to ask, how did you market (promote) back then?
Carmine:
Word of mouth, the newspaper, radio and billboards.
Kelly
-
What did you get with your fifty-dollars for the membership?
Carmine:
Nothing, you got to come in.
Kelly
-
How many memberships did you sell?
Malio:
Over a couple years, we sold 7,000 memberships at fifty-dollars each. We made over $340,000 just from memberships.
Kelly
-
Did you ever have to raise capital, to start the restaurants, what was that process like?
Carmine:
We went to the bank and borrowed money.
Kelly:
I assume it was easier years ago to obtain money.
Carmine:
Yes and no, the property (real estate) was good, and we all had a lot of experience in the business. You still had to put up ever everything as collateral, your wife and your kids (laughs). Banks even back then would not let you get away with anything. We put our lives on the line.
Kelly
-
How has technology changed in the restaurant business?
Carmine:
The only technology we really use in the restaurant business is to compute sales. Our reservation system is great now. Technology has enhanced that.
Kelly
-
What is your secret? How has Iavarone’s Steakhouse on Humphrey been around so long?
Carmine:
The atmosphere, the personal service. It is a family business and our guests feel like part of the family when they dine with us. For us, it’s tough though, because you have so many big chains all around us. But thankfully people like local.
Kelly
-
You have employees that have been with you over twenty years, how do you keep great loyal employees that long?
Carmine:
The service industry is typically tough with employees. You have some, like yourself, that are here as they are working towards something else, their education and careers. They are here for awhile and then move on. You have a few positions that may stay…your chef, hostess, or manager. But other than that, you are constantly turning over employees. They are on their way somewhere. But that makes for a good employee.
Malio:
We treat people right; they become part of the family.
Kelly
-
Why did Malio’s location close on Azeele and Dale Mabry?
Malio:
We were offered money for the land that we could not turn down. Malio’s closed in 2004, and at the time we did not have plans of reopening. We actually sold the booths, chairs, tables, even the aquarium, we sold everything. People in the community kept asking to buy pieces of the original Malio’s, they wanted a piece of history. We had an auction at the end with what was left, and the community came in and bought everything.
Kelly
-
How did Malio’s end up in the Rivergate Plaza, downtown Tampa?
Malio:
It was about a one-and-a-half years later, we were approached by a group from downtown, about reopening in a new location. We decided to do it. That was about eleven years ago, in 2007.
Kelly
-
Today, when you look back, what was your greatest challenge?
Carmine:
You know, we were very lucky. We had amazing women in our lives that let us work twenty-four hours a day. They would say, “Go make a living and we’ll see you when we see you.” They took care of the kids, the family, and let us do what we had to do in order to succeed.
Malio:
We have great wives, they are strong women.
Carmine:
Like our mother. We both had bars, we would leave the house at nine am and it might be three am when we get back home, once the bars closed. We didn’t have managers back then. We ran everything. You just had to hang in there. You couldn’t go home and just go to sleep. You had to make sure you were constantly making money. But we loved it, and it, working was what we wanted to do. Everyone was happy. You have to have a strong, strong woman beside you to succeed in this business.
Kelly
-
You obviously have had a lifetime in the restaurant business. Malio’s and Iavarone’s have been in business for many, many years? What is your secret to longevity?
Carmine:
We’ve lived the business. We’ve made adjustments, where we needed to, and we have all made sacrifices.
Malio:
Many people cannot put up with, nor would they ever consider working, sixteen hour days. You really have to live the business and fully commit.
Kelly
-
Did you ever consider opening additional locations?
Carmine:
Not really, because it is so detailed to what we do. We never really wanted to explore the modern approach to business franchising.
Kelly
-
Now at seventy-five, and since you have both retired, and the third generation has, for the most part, taken over…what are you doing with your time?
Malio:
We’ve traveled some, just taking it easy.
Carmine:
I am still at the restaurant every day. My boys take care of the day-to-day but, I am a social guy. This is where I want to be. I enjoy it. I do play golf, my buddies come in here. We have a good time.
Kelly
-
What advice can you share on building a staff?
Carmine:
Surround yourself with good people.
Malio:
Lead by example.
Kelly
-
What is the best advice that you have ever been given?
Carmine:
Have control, don’t drink all of the liquor in your bar. Do not pay attention to the evil tempting things that might be around you. Stay focused.
Malio:
Treat people the way you want to be treated.
Kelly
-
If you could go back in time to yourself, thirty years ago, what advice would you give yourself?
Malio:
Nothing, I wouldn’t do anything different.
Carmine:
I feel the same way, I have enjoyed every move that I‘ve made. We’ve had a good time building a business as a family.
Kelly
-
What advice can you give to those starting out today in the restaurant business?
Carmine:
Have your own original ideas and feelings. It’s not work—it’s a lifestyle.
Kelly
-
What might people be surprised to know about you?
Carmine:
I can’t tell you the truth there (laughs).
Malio:
That is a good question.
Kelly
-
In regard to your children, how did you come out with great children that are committed to taking over the family businesses?
Carmine:
They have amazing Mothers. We are a very close family and we have all always worked and lived right near each other.
Kelly
-
If you have an opportunity to go out to eat, not in your own restaurants, where do you like to go?
Malio:
Donatello Italian Restaurant, we’re all friends.
Carmine:
My Wife and I like Bern’s Steakhouse.
Kelly
-
What is your definition of success today?
Carmine:
Enjoying life.
Malio:
Happiness.
Check out Malio’s Prime Steakhouse located at 400 N. Ashley Drive, Tampa, 33602, in the Rivergate Plaza Downtown Tampa,
www.MaliosPrime.com
and Iavarone’s Italian Steakhouse located at 3617 W. Humphrey Street, Tampa, 33614,
www.IavaronesSteakhouse.com
. Let them know EDGE sent you.
