It's something you believe in. Something you are. Authentic.
On the front page of Mr Brunello, we write:
Running a restaurant is an art.
And it involves much more than fantastic food, wine, and location.
The most important ingredients are genuine hospitality.
Authenticity.
And a smile. That comes straight from the heart.
These are words we have used to describe something that is fundamental to our approach to running a restaurant.
When you run a restaurant, it's not enough to just do your job well. You have to want to do it. Want people. Want the encounter. Want the relationship. And yes — care about people you haven't even met yet.
But how can you genuinely care about people you don't know yet?
This is a question that some people may return to. After all, you can't love someone you've never met before. Or can you?
Yes, you can.
What we have learned is that genuine hospitality is not about knowing someone beforehand. It is about the way you meet people. With openness. With curiosity. With a genuine desire to get to know people.
Not as guests.
But as human beings.
When you meet people with this basic attitude, care is already present in the encounter – before the relationship has even been established.
It is a fundamental attitude. A way of being in the room. A respect that does not depend on who walks through the door or why they have come.
Hospitality cannot be learned from a manual
The way we have always worked with hospitality is not something we learned in school. Nor is it something we can hand out as a set of rules.
We have taught our team this by showing them. By doing it ourselves. Again and again. By being present. By taking the time. By meaning it when we smile, ask questions, listen, and follow up.
That's how this kind of thing spreads.
The right people with the right skills
Over the decades that we have been building our team—which, naturally, has included many different people—we have consciously focused less on people's professional skills and more on who they were and are as human beings.
That doesn't mean that academic performance is unimportant. But it has never been the most important thing.
Sincerity.
Decency.
The ability to treat other people with respect and warmth.
These are qualities that we believe you either have a lot of or a little of. You can always build on your professional skills.
As a starting point, we have sought people for our team who have a background in catering—or at least a sincere desire to work in the industry. But if our core values were not present, it was not enough to be skilled in the kitchen or on the floor.
If authenticity is lacking, it simply won't work in the long run.
A quiet conclusion
When we talk about authenticity, it's not just about what we serve—it's about how we are in that moment. It's about presence, respect, and the atmosphere that can only be created when authenticity is present and comes from a place of honesty.
That's what we mean when we say that a smile comes from the heart.