MOST business folk in Glasgow, at one time or another over the last three decades, will have had a lunch meeting in one of the city’s three branches of Sartis, the traditional Italian restaurant and deli chain.

Times may have changed since that first venue opened in 1992, but back then, some of them maybe never even made it back to the office that afternoon, such was the lure of the fine Italian wine on offer.

The restaurant’s endurance, as countless others have come and gone, is because it retains its focus on using fresh, authentic Italian ingredients, just as its founders envisaged when Piero and Sandro Sarti, along with their business partner Gerry O’Donnell, opened on Wellington Street.

“In Wellington St in 1992 it was offices and nothing else,” says Piero. He is perched at a high table in Sartis’ Bath Street branch, sipping a macchiato while around us the buzz of lunchtime trade fills the room with real warmth.

“If you wanted a coffee you literally had to go to Dino’s on Sauchiehall Street or Francos in Central Station. It was pretty bleak. We opened and literally had queues out the door in our first morning.” 

Mr Sarti tells of how, in the days before opening, when he was up a ladder hanging the sign outside the restaurant, he was approached by Di Maggio’s founder Mario Gizzi who questioned the location – in the heart of the business district, and therefore empty in the evenings and at weekends.

“Mario came back a few months later to congratulate us,” he laughs. 

Sartis was born from the embers of Fazzi’s, the cafe-bar in Cambridge Street opened by the brothers’ grandfather more than a century ago, after a failed attempt to emigrate to the US after the First World War brought him instead to Scotland.

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Mr Sarti says from his perspective as a young man on the board of Fazzi’s, the management took too long to make decisions and this ultimately forced the business to close.

“Fazzi’s closed and I had to do something, it was in my blood,” says Mr Sarti. “But it wasn’t through pride or anything like that, or money. It was for the love of food, Italian food. I’ve lived my life with these products round about me. I would be stranded not having Salami Milano, Prosciutto, anchovies and olive oil around me. That is thanks to Fazzi Brothers.”

When the Wellington Street branch opened it was two-thirds deli, but gradually the restaurant side began to take over. 

In 1995 a second branch opened in Bath Street, after an architect who was a frequent customer suggested to Mr Sarti that he take on the building round the corner and knock through to create two adjoining restaurants.

“He was here every morning for his breakfast, he said to buy the place round the corner; we didn’t know there was a place round the corner,” recalls Mr Sarti. “He got the drawings, showed us where we could connect. It gave us a really good kick start as Wellington St was a bit small.”

The anecdote is a perfect example of the benefits of building loyalty.

A third restaurant soon opened on Renfield Street and the business thrived as Glasgow built a reputation for casual dining. But an attempt at rapid expansion stalled in the late 1990s and in 2002 the Renfield branch was sold to its management team, led by Sandro’s daughter Daniella. Six years later that same team bought the majority of the rest of the business in a £5 million deal.

The Sarti brothers embarked on new ventures – Sandro launched Tuscana Elite, a business operating wine tours in Turscany, while Piero opened Pane e Vino in Giffnock, a café bar just yards from what is now the Orchard Park Hotel, but was previously the nursing home where Piero was born.

“We all did different things, but it wasn’t until five years ago that I got the bug and the opportunity in the south side of Glasgow came up,” he says.

“I’ve stuck to it, half my business is dedicated to the retail side, Italian food and wine. I’m not a restaurant, I’m a café bar of about 40 seats inside and out, and it is very successful. 

“People of the south side and Giffnock have really adopted me, they’ve taken me on and they are fantastic, very loyal customers. That’s the buzz that you get.”

Now 61, he says the pace of life has slowed down a bit – though with a two-year old daughter it is not too slow.

He makes the trip to Giffnock from Inverkip every day, and still racks up more than 40 hours a week. But after a career built on multiple units, there are no plans to expand Pane e Vine, even if his thoughts do stray into that territory from time to time.

“There are reasons for doing everything in life,” he says. “One of them is age, and health. And as much as I would like to do something more, I’m 62 at the end of the year and I’ve got diabetes and you think ‘no’, this is enough. 

“If I think how well I’ve done from five years ago to now I’d be quite happy but you always get hungry in business and think, ‘there’s a nice unit, we could do that up’. But there are other things, there’s family. You can’t just physically do it all.”

That’s not to say there are not enormous challenges. There is Brexit for one.

“Brexit is a huge problem, everything went up 18 per cent with the devaluation of the pound, and everyone just made it 20%. Things went up 20% overnight. You either start looking for cheaper goods or you say ‘I’m sorry, this is the price now’.”

While Mr Sarti acknowledges that he may be generalising, he adds: “We don’t bat an eyelid if the price of a motor car goes up, or we buy a watch or holiday. But we do complain about the price of food. Good food should be expensive. A good car is expensive, so is a good watch. Good food is not cheap.

“Everything is going up, rent, goods, utilities, so why should food be so cheap? Eat less, eat better. We all eat too much, so be healthier. Drink less, drink better too.”

On the subject of rent, Mr Sarti said it was fast becoming unaffordable, which with increases in other bills, was making it difficult to “keep the amount of staff you need to give a good service and have the amount of the staff you can afford to pay”.

“That line is becoming so tough it’s unbelievable,” he says. “We don’t yet have robots in the service industry yet, in Glasgow, people like a smile and a chat. If you want to give that as a service, it costs.”

While Mr Sarti juggles his lot, he continues to have huge fun in running his business, and in offering the authentic Italian experience, something he believes is becoming increasingly marginalised as chain restaurants take over.

“There are families trying very hard to put good traditional Italian food on the plate,” he says. “There is also the other side where it is commercial. All restaurants should specialise in olive oils, in wines and what tomatoes and parmesan to use.

“We are Tuscan at heart,” he says. “We eat beans, spelt, food from the mountains. Borlotti beans can be made amazing and you can do them six or seven ways. You make a product fantastic, that’s the art of cooking.”

And to top it off, the Sarti brothers have recently been reunited, with Piero becoming involved with Sandro’s wine tour business on the back of distributors he sources products from.

“Through Sartis and Fazzi’s the contacts we’ve made in Italy are fantastic so we’ve just put together Sandro and Piero’s wine tour,” he says.

A small group recently travelled from Glasgow to the Fattoria Fubbiano vineyard near Lucca in Tuscany.

The venture highlights Mr Sarti’s love of what he does and why he keeps doing it.

“You need to make money, of course, you’ve got to have your profit and loss account and your balance sheet, but you know what, it’s not everything in running a business,” he says. “As long as you’re making money and you love the environment, that’s every bit as important.”

Six Questions...

What countries have you most enjoyed travelling to, for business or leisure, and why?

Obviously I absolutely love touring the vineyards of Italy but I also love the south of Spain, particularly its culture. It’s fair to say I’m a very Mediterranean person.

When you were a child, what was your ideal job? Why did it appeal?

I’ve always loved animals, I still do. So it was never about food and drink then. Thinking back I don’t know if I was ever smart enough to become a veterinary surgeon or a marine biologist.

What was your biggest break in business?

Breaks comes through necessity sometimes and my biggest break came with the demise of the family business, Fazzi Brothers. It made us start again with less than nothing and we never looked back.

What was your worst moment in business?

In my case one rubs against the other, so the worst moment was also the demise of Fazzi’s. I may have been young but I was on the board. Walking out of there with nothing and handing over to receivers was a real low. It was so sad, I still love that business.

Who do you most admire and why?

I could say a philosopher like Aristotle, but I’m a football fan. I love AC Milan and so I can’t look past Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini. It’s not just their skills but their ambassadorial roles off the field. Along with them, I’d add my grandfather, who founded Fazzi Brothers after arriving in Scotland after the First World War.

What book are you reading, and what was the last film you saw?

I’m currently reading a biography of Silvio Berlusconi. I don’t know what that says about me but he’s had a remarkable life. And because I’ve got a two year-old, I’ve not seen a film in a long time, but I do like the old epics.