Fran Marincola, owner of Caffe Luna Rosa, doesn’t have any children to whom he can one day pass his restaurant. So he has given half of the restaurant to four longtime employees.
Marincola said he hopes the employees and their families will be able to keep Caffe Luna Rosa going in the right direction for as long as he’s alive.
“When you’re young, it’s all about money,” Marincola said. “Now, to me, it’s not all about the money.”
The employees are Bonnie Beer, the restaurant’s office manager since September 1999; John Gergen, who started soon thereafter as day manager; Ernesto DeBlasi, who has been executive nighttime chef for more than a decade; and Marvin Barrera, the head chef during the day. The 30-year agreement stipulates that three of the new owners would have to agree to any potential sale of the establishment.
Right now, though, no one’s eager to go anywhere.
“Since I gave them ownership, we’ve had our best season in 19 years,” Marincola said. “Business is up. And if you do a thousand people on Sunday, then why can’t you do that on Monday?
“This adds to their net worth, and they have a stake in the company Even though we have a small place, we have room to grow.”
Beer entered the restaurant business after graduating from Penn State University with a teaching degree. After moving to South Florida, she began working as a bartender to make money and discovered she had a talent for it. She moved on to Ocean Properties, where she learned the management side of the restaurant business. Then she came to Caffe Luna Rosa in 1999 and never left.
“I’ve been here a long time because this place has such a family feel,” she said. “For me, this business move is security for my two children, who are 8 and 5. Now I’ve already paid for their college.”
For DeBlasi, it’s about family as well as opportunity.
“I just moved into a new home because of this place,” he said. “I live across from one of the best schools in the area because of my job here. … The rest of the staff is top-notch. We’ve been able to handpick better-quality people.”
Marincola said one of the reasons he offered the 50 percent ownership stake was because he didn’t want the restaurant to be sold and redone by a new owner.
“I don’t want anyone to take my pictures down,” he said. “We have a high-quality product, and everything is made to order. I want to keep it that way. We put a lot of money into this place and the best of everything.
“This place was built to root.”
Caffe Luna Rosa is located at 34 S. Ocean Blvd. in Delray Beach. For more information, visit or call 561-274-9404.
