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About Sarpino'sSarpino's Story
Sarpino's founder, Gerry Koutougos, took his family on a vacation to Europe in 1999. While touring the Italian countryside, they discovered a small, secluded family restaurant run by an elderly local woman named Sarpina. Gerry was so overwhelmed by how wonderful Sarpina's food tasted, that he volunteered to spend 2 weeks working, for free, as an assistant in Sarpina's kitchen. There he learned the secrets of authentic Italian cooking, which are used in Sarpino's restaurants to this day. In 2001, Gerry opened the first Sarpino's restaurant in Victoria, British Columbia. The first overseas location opened in Singapore in 2002, and in 2003, Phoenix, Arizona became home to the first Sarpino's restaurant in the United States. During 2003-2004, Sarpino's Canada opened close to 20 stores in the United States. The products were instant hit with the customers. In May 2005 Sarpino's USA took over the franchising in the USA from the Canadian company and became the Franchisor for Sarpino's Restaurant Franchises and Area Franchises in the United States. The first couple years were spent fine-tuning the business model, improving the in-store technology as well as and developing a field support operations. Most of the original stores are now taking a full advantage of new developments and all new stores are being built using the state of the art design, technology and know-how. The new developments were very successful and wholeheartedly accepted by the franchise community. After creating the solid foundation at the store level, Sarpino's USA is now embarking on an aggressive expansion program. If you want to learn how you can participate in this opportunity, please explore the Franchise section. At Sarpino's, we continue to provide current stores with support, while also focusing our attention towards expanding into new markets. We are committed to opening 100 restaurants by the end of 2011, and with over 25 restaurants in 8 different states already successful today, it is easy to see that we will reach our goal. |
