Gaetano’s Restaurant, a charming Italian restaurant nestled in the Torrance Towne Center, has reached its 30-year milestone. However, the history of this family business dates back to the 1950s, when the great-grandfather of Vince Giuliano, the current owner of Gaetano’s Restaurant, opened a delicatessen called Giuliano’s.

Giuliano’s parents then opened Gaetano’s in 1993, honoring his great-grandfather by naming the new restaurant after him. Although Gaetano’s launched as a deli, the Guilianos transformed it into a full-service restaurant only a couple years into the venture.

“They had a lot of hiccups throughout the turnover, but in general they felt as though the city needed an Italian restaurant,” Giuliano says. “And it’s served us well for the remainder of it.”

Giuliano has managed restaurant operations at Gaetano’s since 2006, carrying on his family’s legacy. He finds value in his own experience of growing up with the restaurant because it allows him to continue the business with the same driving ideals that his parents implemented when they began Gaetano’s.

“I was there since day one,” Giuliano says. “I was 12 years old when it first opened, so to me it was: serve great food in a very comfortable setting by extremely hospitable people. That was it. That was the formula. That was my mom and dad’s founding principles and that has lived with me since day one.”

Giuliano uses these same principles when training his team to ensure they create an enjoyable atmosphere for customers. He credits the commitment to these values as a key to Gaetano’s decades-long success.

“I think in general, all communities like longstanding businesses because a lot of times, the owner — who has been there since day one — knows what the original founding principles were,” Giuliano says. “They want to keep those principles current. To the community, that’s why it’s a special place to be.”

Although Gaetano’s has a track record of success in the South Bay, the restaurant industry is notoriously difficult. Giuliano describes it as “a million little challenges,” with problems arising every day. For him and his team, these challenges are an expected part of the industry.

“What has kept us going throughout all these years is understanding and being comfortable with the fact that there are going to be challenges,” Giuliano says.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these challenges as it brought dramatic alterations to the restaurant industry. Prior to the pandemic, Giuliano was accustomed to seeing small changes over time lead to minor adjustments in the restaurant industry, but the pandemic required them to pivot and respond to huge shifts rapidly.

For example, when lockdown began, Gaetano’s experienced a significant leap in online orders, which necessitated changes in the way the restaurant operated. In addition, as dining rooms shut down for months at a time, servers in the restaurant industry suffered job insecurity and many jumped to other industries, leading to a shortage of servers post-lockdown.

“What COVID has also done is businesses have taken a step back and said we really appreciate our team — we have to learn how to appreciate them more,” Giuliano says. “The labor pool became very challenging for the restaurant industry.”

COVID altered the restaurant industry permanently in some ways. For example, Giuliano opened Piccini Italian Takeout as he and his team realized that people were beginning to embrace takeout options on a larger scale.

“We felt like takeout is the future,” Giuliano says. “People enjoy it. People like it. They are getting used to it. It’s convenient. This ties into the big, enormous change COVID had on our industry.”

Throughout these changes, Gaetano’s has evolved but has remained true to the values that it started with in the 1990s. As Gaetano’s heads into a new decade, Giuliano reflects on the small moments that have served as highlights for him, such as when he and his team make a small adjustment — a new dish or a tweak to improve the dining experience — that customers enjoy.

“I would like to dedicate the 30-year anniversary to our team, those that have worked hard day in, day out to make sure that the guest experience has been their top priority,” Giuliano says.

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