Today we’d like to introduce you to Tony Macaroni. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Chef Tony Macaroni received his start in the culinary field by shadowing his parents in their various Italian restaurants in New York. In his pursuit of taking the culinary world by storm Tony enrolled in the New York Restaurant School in Manhattan. He was able to travel throughout Italy, France and Germany honing his skills and mastering European cuisine. Chef Macaroni has received many accolades throughout his career, he’s been featured in many local magazines from New Jersey to Florida, he’s competed on Network TV cooking shows, and in 2015 he was invited to attend the Annual New Jersey Wine and Food Festival at Crystal Springs Resort, where he dazzled the judges and event-goers with his Award-Winning skirt steak recipe.
Chef Tony has been the private chef of countless celebrities, actors, and musicians.
Chef Tony Macaroni & Co. was developed by Chef Tony Macaroni and his wife, Tabitha. We are family-owned and operated, offering Authentic Italian/American cuisine. Our concept includes small brick and mortars, food trucks, on and off-premises catering, with ideas of franchising in the future.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When the country shut down for Covid-19 my wife and I decided to invest in a food truck. We went into the American Legion Post 111 as the commissary for the food truck. We figured that we would have a menu available for the customers in the lounge of post 111 since the bars were beginning to reopen. We had a beautiful truck that was being custom-built for us… so we thought. The man took our down payment and was in contact with us for the first month and then it became very hard to contact him. He finally told us that he would not be able to produce a truck for us and that he would give us our down payment back. We never heard from him again and we never got our down payment back. We could have given up and walked away, but we chose to make something of it and continue to build our company into something bigger than we had originally planned.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I specialize in Authentic Italian-American scratch cuisines. I am most known for using the best products and making most of our food from scratch. I do not cut corners to make it easier for me, I cook everything to order. I love being in the kitchen cooking and I put love in everything I make. I am proud of my strong Italian heritage. What sets me apart from others is that I came from Italian immigrant parents. My mom was raised on a farm in Cantalupo nel Sannio and my dad was raised in a fisherman’s family in Villa San Giovanni. I was taught to make homemade sauce, pull mozzarella from curd, make macaroni (pasta), make sausage, butcher meats, prepare fish and seafood dishes, and much more the “old school” way they did it in Italy. I get my strong work ethics from my parents as they taught by example. They worked very hard in their restaurant to achieve the American dream. My wife (Tabitha) and I continue to work hard every day to continue to grow our business into our own American dream.
What were you like growing up?
I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. My parents sent me to St. Patrick’s semi-military Academy to keep me off the streets. During the summers I was working in the kitchen at the restaurant my parents owned. When I was not in the kitchen, you could find me skateboarding and breakdancing with my friends. My dad used to take my brother and I on weekend camping trips to go fishing. Every summer my family would take a trip to Walt Disney World. This was where my love for Disney began. I took cooking classes at Freehold Boro High School. After high school, I attended New York Restaurant School in Manhattan to obtain a culinary degree and a BS degree in Hotel Restaurant Management.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.ChefTonyMacaroni.com
- Instagram: chef_tony_macaroni
- Facebook: Chef Tony Macaroni
