all in the family · or angelo’s pizza in berlin and sal cusumano, the restaurant business is the...

For Angelo’s Pizza in Berlin and SalCusumano, the restaurant business isthe family business.

Cusumano is a third-generation owner ofthe successful restaurant chain, which has fourstores—two in Mount Laurel, one in Riversideand one in Berlin, the latter of whichCusumano owns and operates.

“Angelo’s is a family tradition that startedwith my grandfather in the late ‘60s,”Cusumano says. “I am the first generation ofmy family to live in America. My parents wereborn in Sicily in the same town, Carini, andmet in Medford, actually. My father followedmy grandfather’s footsteps, and so have I.”

But Cusumano, a Rowan University grad-uate, took a roundabout way back to the fam-ily business.

“It was always in the back of my mind, aPlan B,” he says of returning to Angelo’s. “Iwent to Rowan, got a communications de-gree, did a couple internships in communi-cations. I ended up being a salesman for thecheese company I use now, helping other piz-za restaurants get better, and I said to myself,‘I am wasting my time driving all over God’screation when I could be doing this myself.’”So in 2012, he bought an existing business,changed it over to Angelo’s Pizza and anoth-er brand of the family business was born.

Today, he couldn’t imagine doing any-thing else.

“I love what I do, [and] I wouldn’t changea thing. I have known this was my calling eversince I was a 2-year-old wearing my grand-father’s pizza shirt. I take pride in what I do.And it’s a responsibility I am honored to pur-sue and carry on my grandfather and father’sdream and grow it to new heights.”

Still, Cusumano widely credits his uncles,Rich and Pino Cusumano and Nino Randaz-zo; his cousin Tony Sparacio, the co-owner ofRiviera pizza in Medford Lakes; his father, TonyCusumano; his sister, Josephine and hismother, Francesca with his success; as well ashis grandfather Sal—also his namesake.

“A huge part to our success here at theBerlin location is that my mother and fatherhelped me get [on] my feet when I first tookover. My father had all the experience and hisadvice helped lay the foundation that Ange-lo’s works off,” he explains. “Growing up inthe business, I learned valuable lessonsworking alongside my grandfather and un-cles. A lot of credit goes to my mother. Shedeveloped all the soup recipes that we serveat the Berlin location; and it’s that homemadetaste my customers have learned to love andexpect when they walk in the door.”

And Francesca has become somewhat ofa fixture at the Berlin location. “There’s nota day that goes by where someone is askingme ‘Where’s Mom?’ or ‘How’s Mom?’”Cusumano says. “I’ve also received propos-als for my mother’s hand in marriage, butshe’s taken; just don’t tell my Dad. Overall,she’s been my rock through the tough timesand has always been my biggest fan.”

He’s also incorporated some successfulnew ideas into Angelo’s in Berlin, such as theAngelo Way, a guidebook of sorts to the fam-ily business’ goals, standards, and ultimate-ly, success.

“That’s the core of how we operate,” hesays. “I developed the plan five years ago, andwhen I took over my own restaurant, I was

able to break it down, put it on paper andmake it [applicable]. It took two years to getit instilled [at Angelo’s Pizza] in Berlin, andwe keep building off it, growing on it. Onceyou get hired, you have to buy in.” Part of therestaurant’s success and how they do thingsis having managers set the tone and serve asa positive example of how things are doneto other employees, Cusumano explains.

Cusumano also introduced some otherchanges to the business, including develop-ing Instagram and Facebook accounts for thebusiness.

Angelo’s also makes it a point to giveback to the community, doing work for theRonald McDonald House in Camden and theBerlin Community School, where they willthis year give the Giuseppe Randazzo Lead-ership Award to the most deserving 8thgrader, an award named after Cusumano’smaternal grandfather, whom he also creditsfor his success.

But one thing hasn’t changed—andthat’s the pizza.

“Our pizza comes down to the recipe. It’spassed down from my grandfather and it’sover 50 years old. And it’s all about the qual-ity ingredients we put into it—the cheese, thedough, the sauce; it’s all top of the line. That’sbasically what created all this,” he says.“It’s never really been tweaked. The pizza wasa staple.”

“My grandfather opened [Riccardo’s] inWilingboro after he moved from Brooklyn,so a lot of people might remember that,” hecontinues. “The recipe has been passeddown to my father and now to me. The rea-son why we have four stores today is becauseof the pizza. That gave us the start and that’swhat continues to make us successful into thenext century.”

And after 2 1/2 years in business, Cusumanohas continued to employ the same motto thatinspired him to chase his dreams.

“You can either dream about it or you cango out and make it happen,” he says. n

business spotlight

SouthJersey.com VOLUME 12 ISSUE 4 SOUTH JERSEY MAGAZINE

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Angelo’s Pizza 2 Route 73, Berlin | (856) 768-7222 | AngelosBerlin.com

All in theFamily

Angelo’s Pizza Berlinowner Sal Cusumano on

running the family business,his plan of action andhow his family helped

him succeed.

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