Local Giuliano’s draws customers
from all around to its Gardena store
While businesses all around them have come and gone over 64 years, Giuliano’s of Gardena Delicatessen and Bakery staked its claim in Gardena and has been there ever since.
Thanks to a menu that includes their famous torpedo sandwiches, as well as customer service that makes you “feel right at home,” Giuliano’s has customers coming from all over the South Bay and the greater Los Angeles area to experience its authentic Italian cuisine.
Local Giuliano’s draws customers
from all around to its Gardena store
While businesses all around them have come and gone over 64 years, Giuliano’s of Gardena Delicatessen and Bakery staked its claim in Gardena and has been there ever since.
Thanks to a menu that includes their famous torpedo sandwiches, as well as customer service that makes you “feel right at home,” Giuliano’s has customers coming from all over the South Bay and the greater Los Angeles area to experience its authentic Italian cuisine.
Rick Giuliano has been working in his family’s business for the past 50 years and said that during that time he has not only seen the city itself change and evolve, he has also grown to consider all of his customers as family.
“It’s like the song on Cheers where you’d like to be where everyone knows your name,” he said.
Giuliano has made it his business to devote just as much time and effort to his customers as he does to churning out the 500-600 torpedo sandwiches the deli sells in an average day, in addition to the other numerous items on their menu.
“I had an old guy (customer) who would take the bus all the time,” Giuliano said. “And sometimes he would buy a case of wine and I’d end up driving him home and carrying the case up the stairs for him because he was an old guy. He stopped coming in so I thought, okay, Bill must have passed away. I got a post card a few months later from Genoa, Italy saying that someone had left him their villa and he moved back to Italy for the rest of his life. He sent me a postcard to say he was ‘ok.’”
It’s that kind of devotion to its customers that has helped Giuliano’s remain a staple of the Gardena community for more than half a century.
“There’s families who will see each other (only) at Thanksgiving and I’ll see them every week when they come into get food,” he said. “I’ll say, ‘Hey, you just missed your brother and the lady will say ‘How come he wasn’t at my cousin’s baptism last week?’”
One of the things that separates Giuliano’s from other delis is that it not only bakes its own bread, but also its own pastries. Likewise the deli makes its own salads, sausages, meatballs, and roast beef.
In fact, the Giuliano deli is most famous for its 16-inch torpedo sandwiches, which Rick said people come in and purchase by the dozen.
“We come in [to the store] in the morning [around 6 or 7 a.m.] and just start making them to have on hand because people buy a whole lot (at a time),” he said.
But Giuliano’s is not just a neighborhood deli, it also qualifies as a local hangout. About 25 years ago, the city enlarged the sidewalk and repaved the street. This allowed the deli to create a patio that has changed the way customers view the shop ever since.
“One thing I noticed after that, was instead of people sitting in their cars or going back to eat at their desks, were sitting in the patio area kicking back in the afternoon, reading a book, and then coming back into the restaurant to get food for their dinner or getting pastries for dessert.”
This dining-area addition reflected the local neighborhood feel that Giuliano’s has perfected.
Trudy Faerber of Harbor City has been a regular customer for the past three years and was attracted by the small town feel of the deli.
“They’re always ready to please you,” Faerber said. “Their food is very good. We’ve had just about everything here, but we like to get our rolls on Sunday have a little jam and butter on them and our coffee.”
The Giuliano’s small town feel, while successful for them, doesn’t always translate to other locations despite having the same name.
According to Giuliano, back in the 1970s and ‘80s, his grandfather Gaetano and his uncles incorporated and sold a dozen franchises. They had three in Orange County, a couple in the valley and on the Westside of Los Angeles as well as five in the south bay.
That might seem like a recipe for success, but there was a problem. While other the businesses carried the Giuliano’s name, they weren’t able to replicate Giuliano’s success and as a result, many of them went out of business.
“Maybe just the ambience, maybe they couldn’t make the place smell like we do,” Giuliano said. “We bake everything all the time and have all kinds of things going on here. I try to hire friendly people and I think it shows.”
A combination of friendly service, authentic Italian cuisine, and a warm, small town atmosphere where everybody knows your name is what has helped Giuliano’s thrive in an area where customers must make a special trip to get their daily supply of freshly baked bread and meats.
It is also what will make Giuliano’s continue to succeed and remain a Gardena staple for years to come.
