How Boccaccio Cellars became a Balwyn institution
IT started in 1963 as a bread delivery service, but this specialty Balwyn grocer has become of the country’s biggest retailers of imported Italian smallgoods, specialty wines and cheeses.
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IF walls of cheese and prosciutto sound like your idea of heaven, get ready to carve out a slice at Boccaccio Cellars.
The wine merchant-come-specialty Mediterranean delicatessen boasts more than 1000 local and imported cheeses, 3000 wines and a ceiling-to-floor refrigerator filled with legs of the finest jamon and prosciutto imported straight from the motherland, making it every Italophile’s idea of foodie paradise.
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The contemporary, continental deli, which was designed by Melbourne-based architecture firm Peter Harvey & Co and interior design firm Supermarket Design Australia, was even named the best in Australia in 2017.
But don’t be fooled by its sleek interior design and modern fit-out — Boccaccio’s beauty is more than just store deep.
It all started back in 1963 when Tony D’Anna started delivering fresh bread to the flood of Italian migrants arriving from Italy. But Tony, who started the business with his brother Bruno, soon realised that people didn’t just want fresh bread delivered but also spaghetti, good quality olive oil and (hush, hush) the occasional bottle of grappa.
Fast forward 50 years and this family-run grocer has gone from humble bread delivery service to one of Balwyn’s most beloved institutions.
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The fully-fledged specialty grocer is home to one of the best cheesemongers in the city, its wine store stocks a wide selection of unique, interesting and hard-to-find wines, and it is often cited by the upper eschalon of Melbourne’s most respected foodies and chefs as being their go-to place for quality smallgoods and cured meats.
We caught up with part-owner and second generation businessman Anthony D’Anna to find out how Boccaccio become one of the country’s national foodie treasures.
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Tell us a little about Bocaccio
We know how passionate Melburnians are about quality food and wine. That’s why this is not your regular supermarket. We do things a little differently. You walk in and there’s a glass refrigerator installation filled with prosciutto and jamon. A mural painted is painted along the back wall with the face of Giovanni Bocaccio, the founder of humanism. Every third day there is a container arriving from Italy filled with cheese, prosciutto, wine or smallgoods. We have 1000 different cheeses, local and imported, 150 salamis and our cellar stocks 3000 wines. We have five cheesemongers on the floor, but they don’t stand behind the counter. They’re on the floor, talking to customers and helping them choose the best products for them. Same with our deli.
How did it all start?
Boccaccio was started by my father, Tony, and his brother, Bruno. Bruno first came to Australia in the late 50s and started out selling flowers at Flinders St Station. He knew, though, that there were all these Italian migrants missing the staples they loved from back home and so they started delivering bread from the back of a truck to all the immigrants who had arrived. This quickly spread by word of mouth and enabled them to buy a small shopfront in Flemington in 1963, and they operated from the for another 10 years. Then in 1074 they purchased Boccaccio in Balwyn but, back then, times were different from what they are now. People thought selling foreign products like olive oil and pasta and tinned tomatoes was crazy and the majority of the Italian community thought it wouldn’t last a year. Actually, in the beginning, it wasn’t the Italians who were buying these products — it was all the other customers in the area who were intrigued by these new ingredients. From one shop, Boccaccio has now taken over the space of 13 shopfronts over the last 40 years.
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How has it changed over the years?
The idea started with the first generation, but then when the second generation came on board — my sister, two brothers and I — we saw an opportunity to expand the business. All of us went to university but then we all gravitated back towards the business. We saw the demand for high-quality produce and a more paddock-to-plate philosophy. We started to source directly from the dairy or the farmer and now, everything in the store has been hand-picked. We go over to Parma every year and pick prosciutto. We send our smallgoods experts over to select cheeses or other foodstuffs. The store might look different, but the vision is the same as it was when it started.
What was the impetus for the refurbishment in 2016?
It was all about the food and wine. What the redevelopment allowed us to do with the is to showcase the products as they should be showcased. Food is something we are really passionate about so we looked to places like Le Bon Marche in Paris and Eatily in Milan to give us an idea of what we wanted to do. Once we nailed that brief we were confident that whatever we did would be on that next level.
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You have a really interesting wine selection. How do you pick what to sell?
We want to import and represent some of the greatest names in Italian wine, and also sell and promote some of the great wines that fantastic importers bring in as well. We source from the bottom of Italy to the top and really look for unique things along the way. We have lots of different wines, such as sub-$20 Italian reds that people use for their everyday drinking. Back in the day you might have chosen a $15 shiraz, but these days people are more adventurous in trying varieties from all over the world.
What are some of your top-selling products?
Prosciutto is something we focus on, especially from San Daniele, which is where we think the best prosciutto comes from in Italy. We work with a small producer hand-selecting prosciutto, then age it for 24 months before it goes on sale. We also import some really amazing olive oil from Sicily and Puglia.
Boccaccio has been in business for more than 60 years. What’s the secret to success?
Having a clear vision and never changing our focus. Our focus has always been on food and wine that is high quality and there is always going to be a demand for that — we haven’t just jumped onto every trend. You have to believe in what you’re selling. If you wouldn’t take that product home then don’t stock it. Look at all great restaurateurs and businesses in regards to food and wine — they all have a philosophy and maintain it.
Advice for people who want to start their own business?
You always have to have to have a point of different and to think outside the square. Give people a reason to come and visit you. If you follow the same formula at the next place down the road, nobody is going to some to you. There’s a major retailer just up from us where, if you go the deli, everything is already sliced and done. Here, nothing is sliced. If you ask for cheese, our cheesemongers will cut you off a piece, give you a taste to make sure you like it and then slice it fresh on the spot.
Best thing about your job?
Being around food and wine every day. The first thing I do when I wake up is think about dinner — food and wine is so central to what we do as a family. There are traditions we have as a family that they probably don’t even do in Italy anymore but they’re the sorts of things that really give you connection back to the place where your family is from. I went to university and it would have been easy to follow a career in finance or something else, but the pull of food and wine was too strong.
What do family dinners look like a la tavola D’Anna?
The D’Anna family dinner table is massive. There are four of us kids involved, plus our parents and children so it just ends up being a massive family feast that starts at midday and
ends in the early hours of the morning. There is always pasta, generally with tomatoes — that’s our southern influence — and we just east and drink and drink. They’re great days.
How important are the people when it comes to business?
Some of our staff have been with us the whole way through — 30 or 40 years — and are
experts in what they do. You can build the Taj Mahal of food and wine but unless you have the people in place to help customers — they won’t come.
If someone walks in tomorrow — what are three products they should buy at the moment?
I would tell them to come in and get some imported Parmigiano Reggiano that has been aged for 60 months, some local honey from Warrandyte, a Baker D. Chirico baguette and a bottle of 2015 Castello Monsanto Chianti Classico. That’s lunch right there.
Visit: BOCCACCIO CELLARS : 1030-1050 Burke Rd, Balwyn
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