Big V Interview: Guy Grossi on a mission to champion all Melbourne has to offer

Legendary Melbourne chef Guy Grossi says bringing people together is his purpose— and now he’s on a mission to get people back to the city he loves as it recovers from a Covid “hangover”.

Guy Grossi is on a mission to restore Melbourne to its pre-pandemic glory. Picture: David Caird

Guy Grossi is on a mission for Melbourne.

With the pandemic’s “hangover” still being felt, the renowned chef said the city was fighting back.

“We’ve got to retain Melbourne as a premium destination for all visitors far and wide,” he said.

“We need to champion and preserve all the great things Melbourne has to offer, especially our multiculturalism and exceptional food and wine scene.

“Melbourne is everybody’s city and should be accessible, approachable and an enjoyable experience for everyone.”

The owner of Melbourne’s iconic Grossi Florentino started his decorated career in 1980 at the age of 15, when he started training as a chef with his father Pietro and renowned chef Herman Schneider.

More than four decades later he is at the helm of a family business running seven restaurants and championing industry development and “quality local produce”.

As a son of Italian migrants, his connection to his parents’ birth country shaped his early years and continues to inspire him to create an authentic and genuine Italian “home of hospitality”.

“We’re very lucky to have this cultural melting pot that we’ve created here,” he said.

“Through food, I think people start to share stories and memories. People form bonds, friendships and create sincerity.

“Bringing people together is our purpose. The privilege of cooking for someone is a personal gift and I obtain so much joy from knowing people are enjoying a meal that I have prepared and are coming together to eat.”

Guy Grossi says Melbourne is everybody’s city. Picture: Tim Carrafa

From Italy with love

Five years before Guy was born, his father Pietro Grossi was working as a chef in Milan when he was offered a job in Australia.

The offer came via Mario Vigano, who was opening Mario’s on Exhibition St – which would go on to become a Melbourne culinary icon.

Grossie said Vigano was a leader in a young local hospitality industry and had great vision in importing the skills needed to produce authentic Italian food at a time when “you had to go to the chemist to buy olive oil”.

Pietro and his wife, Marisa, had a young daughter in Italy but decided to embark on the adventure.

The young couple made a heart-wrenching decision that would see Pietro make the move first to Australia alone to ensure it was “the right decision”.

The couple relied on regular letters to communicate – something Grossi later had translated due to the ornate calligraphy used in those days.

After being separated for six months, the family navigated the complex paperwork needed to reunite in Melbourne.

Grossi looks around his Cellar Bar restaurant on Bourke St, where he caught up with the Herald Sun.

“This little room was where they took Papa on his first day for a break from Mario’s,” he said.

Once the family reunited they were housed by other Italian families in Hawthorn, before shifting to Broadmeadows when their first son, Guy, was born in 1965.

There had been a steady influx of Italians to Australia since World War II, but when Grossi started at Dallas North Primary School he was still an outsider.

“There was issues racially back then, but we managed,” he said.

“You had to learn to run fast… but funnily, I made friends through food.”

Having a mum that could “cook amazing food” certainly made the task easier, with regular school-day lunches created for Grossi and his classmates,

“They quickly developed a taste for good Italian cooking and I was accepted!” he laughed.

“We got into double figures of kids coming over, as the reputation spread.”

The suspicion of a foreign culture dissipated with each serving of Cotoletta or pasta with Parmigiano.

“But mum did this because she just liked to feed people. The food and sharing naturally broke down the barriers.”

Gu Grossi wasn’t always sure he wanted to be a chef. Picture: Mark Stewart

Feeding a passion

As a young teenager, Grossi wasn’t certain he wanted to be a chef.

“There were boring jobs you had to do, and it’s cold in the winter and hot in the kitchen during the summertime – I couldn’t understand why anybody would want to do this job,” he said.

“But then, you know, it’s the sort of thing that just gets under your skin.”

Dad Pietro worked long hours, sometimes at various venues doing breakfast, lunch and dinner.

But seeds of a future career were planted as Guy spent weekends with his father tending the home grown garden and preparing the fresh harvested produce with his mother for dinner.

At the time he thought of it as “garden torture” but with hindsight, there were valuable lessons instilled and “beautiful memories” of his Italian heritage

“That’s where he (dad) taught us that if you look after the soil, the soil is going to look after you,” he said.

The family moved to Carnegie and Grossi shifted to Glen Huntly primary school and later attended Caulfield Technical School.

When her boys were in the garden, Marisa would cook Sunday lunch, after which Pietro gathered the family around the TV to watch the wrestling at a time Mario Milano was making his mark.

Grossi ultimately decided he wanted to leave school and study commercial cooking at Box Hill Institute.

Pietro, who Grossie described as “a disciplined man who believed in a strong work ethic he instilled in his children”, encouraged Guy to find an apprenticeship.

At that age he got “all the s--t jobs, sweeping floors, peelings spuds, topping and tailing beans – pretty monotonous stuff”, but reflects that there is a beauty behind those tasks also as it “teaches you that every element of the process is”.

“Our craft is filled with monotonous jobs you do over and over again, but when you string them all together, that’s when you understand that it’s going to come together to make something beautiful, that’s going to make somebody really happy and feel warm inside,” he said.

“Then you start to get the passion for it.”

He later honed his skills at restaurants such as Two Faces, under legendary restaurateur Hermann Schneider, as well as Tolarno’s in St Kilda where he worked with his dad, and continued to blend his Italian heritage with his Australian surroundings.

“I tell my team that we cook from two territories, we cook from the territory that our parents left behind, and we cook from the territory that we now live,” he said.

“We’re so lucky to live in a country that does actually have four seasons, we get some of the greatest produce that’s available globally, in a place like Melbourne.

“We’ve got amazing growers and ethically empowered, great farmers that are looking after their animals.”

Grossi says Melburnians are lucky to live in a city with some of the greatest global produce. Picture: Nicole Cleary

A food empire begins

Shortly before Grossi turned 21, he started his first restaurant with then-fiancé Melissa.

The couple married soon after Quadri flung open its doors in Melbourne’s inner southeast.

While they “loved” their passion project, Grossi said but it was a hasty an entrance to the industry and they still had a lot to learn and experience.

“I travelled later on, after that, and had some amazing experiences, which I think every young person should do; travel and see things because that’s how you really learn,” he said.

In 1988 he coaxed his dad back to the industry, when the family opened Café Grossi.

Pietro had “semi-hung up” his chef’s hat to run a suburban pizza shop called Marisa Pizza – named after his wife – but sold the business to help set up the Café Grossi kitchen and to spend more time with his children as they worked and created together.

“He’d come in every morning, keep everyone on their toes, get all the deliveries in, and then at three o’clock say ‘I’m out’. He would go pick up the grand kids from school, and spend time with them. He was loving it.”

Grossi later opened Pietro’s in Lower Plenty, and in 2001 the family went all-in with the purchase of the famous Melbourne landmark, Florentino on Bourke St.

The sprawling restaurant was a “beast to run” and required the family to offload Pietro’s – before lovingly planted Nebbiolo grape vines bore fruit.

The Grossi family empire broadened; Guy’s sister Elizabeth and her husband Chris are business partners and his son Carlo and daughter Loredana are also involved, along with the continued support of Guy’s wife Melissa.

Today they own and run Grossi Florentino, Grossi Grill, Cellar Bar, Ombra, and Arlechin in Melbourne; and Garum in Perth, Settimo in Brisbane.

This leads to a lot of work chat at home, and at family functions.

“Sometimes somebody will say, ‘you’re always talking about work, stop talking about work’, and then there’s nothing to talk about.” he said.

“Our business and our craft is all consuming and we love it”

Grossi says coming back from Covid was a heavy weight. Picture: Jay Town

The world turned upside down

“We just didn’t know what the hell was going on.”

Grossi’s description of Covid-19’s arrival was of utter confusion and being “overwhelmed”.

“I just started cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner for everybody because that’s the only way I could stay sane,” he said.

After throwing out produce that couldn’t be stored or frozen, the family set up Grossi A Casa to deliver fresh pasta to locked down homes.

He said that was one silver lining from the devastation that was wrought by the rolling lockdowns.

“I don’t want to dwell on it; be positive, we’ve got to move forward,” he said.

“But I believe there’s still a hangover from it, there are people that are still suffering from it. I’ve watched kids that have lost that time at school, they became more reclusive.”

Grossi managed to keep many staff on board, but described walking to work shortly after the pandemic began, and seeing mail piling up under the door of small restaurants, and feeling for the small businesses with mail piled up under doors that “contribute and make up so much of the Melbourne landscape”.

“Coming back from that, not only financially but emotionally, it’s just such a heavy weight,” he said.

“Our purpose is to bring people together and it was heartbreaking to see people so apart.

“Our soul needs interaction and connection – companionship.”

Grossi says he’s lucky to have a great group of passionate hospitality people.

Getting back on track

The CBD is working hard to be in good health again, Grossi believes, but the hospitality sector still needs help.

Businesses have adjusted their hours and days of operation to accommodate for different trends, but they “need to be firing on all cylinders to be able to pay their bills and provide opportunities for growth, employment and creativity”.

“There is a huge element of unpredictability which is damaging,” he said.

Finding skilled professionals and available teams was an issue during reopening but has picked up again at Grossi’s institutions, where he said he is lucky to have a great group of passionate hospitality people.

During this interview Grossi was briefly beckoned to the bar so that one of his team could chant “happy birthday chef” and hand over a card.

The celebrated chef urged policymakers to get “creative” to get people in to the CBD.

“This may take some collaborative thinking and looking at things from a variety of perspectives,” he said.

“I’d also like to see the heritage of Melbourne maintained and really looking after our beautiful buildings and historical sites.

“The key areas for me are, accessibility to as many people as possible, including all modes of transport, usability and ease for people with varying needs and, safety.”

Grossi says the lockdowns were heartbreaking because our souls need interaction and connection. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Q&A WITH GUY GROSSI

First job and pay

Key garlic peeler at small local restaurant near home — pay was very low.

If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be doing?

This job

Five people you’d invite to a dinner party (dead or alive)

Sophia Loren – all things glamour and Italian

David Bowie – I’d love to ask him some questions

Anthony Bourdain – such a great food traveller

Sergio Silvagni – to get footy tips

Angelo Gaja – maybe he’ll bring the wine …

Book everyone should read

1984, George Orwell

If you could live anywhere in the world besides Melbourne, where would it be?

Rome – a vibrant and exciting city

First concert, dream concert (dead or alive)

First: Billy Joel
Dream: Queen – great musicians, craft, talent and party

Most inspirational living person

My children – they keep me young

What advice would you give your 18-year--old self?

Stay calm

First car, current ar, dream car

First: Kingswood Holden — mission brown hand-me-down

Current: Audi

Dream: One that I don’t have to drive

Hidden talent

Singing

Best and worst birthday gift you’ve ever received

Best – a day off

Worst – no such thing

Rainy day TV binge

Godfather trilogy

Song you get pumped up to

Rebel Yell

Death row last meal

Mamma’s calamari ragu

Biggest career regret

I can’t do it all again

Best piece of advice you’ve received

Control the things you can

This year I’m most looking foward to ...

Travelling with my family

One thing I’d love to change about Victoria/Victorians

Nothing

One thing I love most about Victoria

The people