Interview conducted by local REALTOR® Keith Kurlander
Well Palermos Restaurant got started in 1976, we had an 18 seat capacity and then in 1982 we moved here on Vermont, we went from 18 to 48 capacity to a 180 that we sit now. Most the people that we serve now live in the neighborhood, we have some great dishes, pizzas are some of the best in the city and the lasagnas very good. We do make everything from scratch in house.
Well, I was in the wine industry and I couldn't get things that I wanted, I quit my job and I didn't really know what I was going to do. I wanted to open a store and be in the wine industry but it was too expensive so I backed down to a liquor store, then a market and then a restaurant. I knew nothing about the restaurant business, so everything I did was by trial and error and I learned and I learned fast.
When I started I only had one person in the kitchen and a dishwasher and I did most everything myself, it was very, very hard it took about 2 years to get it going. At that time I only paid 2 people the rent was not expensive and that's the only way I survived, otherwise, if things were the way they are today, I would not have survived.
There's a lot of hidden things like how much taxes you have to pay, you don't know sometimes what it takes to deal with people, sometimes it's easier to deal with a customer than the people working for you. A lot of people think that the everything that comes in is all profit, it's not , the dollar gets split so many different ways that by the time you get done there's not much left for you, the person who owns the business.
Well, they like the food that we prepare and serve, we give plenty of it, it's very tasty and the way we treat everybody too, we treat them like family. And that's the reason we've been around for 40 years too.
I remember a famous movie star, I will not mention any name, she come in one day, one of the guys say to her you look like so and so, she replied back and said, I am so and so. ( laughs) and she got some awards too, we get a lot of movie stars.
Yes I do, my dream is to build a car with no gasoline, I'm working on it, it will run on air.
Most people don't know how much it takes to run a business until they get into it, there's so many rules and regulations that you have to go by and then the city and the state and the federal come after you for different things and most people have no idea really.
My business idol is from when I worked at the winery, I learned a lot from him and he was like my Dad, other than that I've learned a lot of things on my own.
It's nice to be an entrepreneur but there's a lot of headaches that go along with it, it takes many, many hours to make it work, most people just see the shine but they don't know what goes on behind the scene to make it shine.
Whatever business you do you should know every aspect of it because if you don't know someone will make a fool out of you.
I really like the neighborhood, there's beautiful views if you go up to the Hollywood Hills, people are nice, everybody'd keeping their up their properties, it's nice.
I like the observatory which has a beautiful view of the whole city and I like the people in the neighborhood, most of them are very nice.
Well it's nice for people to support their local merchants because we help support the churches and schools in the neighborhood.
Website/Blog: http://www.palermoristoranteitaliano.com/