At The Italian Market, recipe calls for food, love and family

LACONIA — Charlie Lockwood and Regina Tucci, the couple behind the Italian Market on Union Avenue, say food and family are intrinsically connected in Italian culture, and their business operates much the same.

The Italian Market, located in the Eight Gables Mall at 585 Union Ave., opened on March 4 of this year. It’s the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition, and a testament of each of the pair's support of the other in that dream.

“It’s always been his dream to cook, his mom had him in the kitchen since he was a little kid,” Tucci said about Lockwood, who was born on a U.S. naval base in Naples, Italy.

Lockwood’s first career wasn’t in kitchens, though. He spent nearly three decades in sales, selling trailer hitches to customers in Canada, Mexico and everywhere in between.

“After 25 years of sleeping in hotel rooms, I decided to find a job locally,” Lockwood said. He thought he had one all lined up, but it fell through at the last moment, leaving him to consider retirement. However, he concluded he wasn’t ready for an idle life.

“I’m not going to just sit at home. I could have retired, but I decided to bet on myself,” Lockwood said.

The Italian Market is that bet, a place where Lockwood can merchandise the imported deli meats, specialty baked goods and nonperishables he couldn’t find anywhere else in the Lakes Region. A place where he can showcase his traditional Italian culinary skills, something he was previously only able to share with the public through his Instagram profile.

Lockwood’s original plan was to make food he could package and wholesale to other retailers, but after crunching the numbers, he figured he’d be better off selling it himself. And when he saw a space on Union Avenue was available, with a kitchen, he decided to take the plunge.

Co-owner Tucci was originally planning to keep her day job working on the administrative side of medical offices, but decided to join her partner of eight years when he couldn’t find a suitable employee to help in the kitchen.

Though it wasn’t part of the original plan, Lockwood said he’s pleased to have her by his side.

“I couldn’t find anyone better than her, nobody cares as much as her,” he said.

That care hasn’t gone unnoticed. In their first month, they served about 600 guests, and have quickly built a loyal clientele, who come at both lunch and dinner times. They said they are doing exactly the level of business they were expecting to hit by the start of summer.

“The community has been unbelievable,” Tucci said. “We have regulars now, you wouldn’t believe how many stand here and chat, exchange phone numbers ... And then we have a lot that come in and say, ‘Don’t ever close!’”

The Italian Market makes fresh sandwiches and prepared meals that can be taken home and reheated. Lockwood prides himself on using the best ingredients — not the cheapest — and recipes his mother would recognize.

So far, profits have been reinvested into the business, by providing a more diverse range of packaged foods for sale, and by purchasing a freezer case for items such as gelati. Soon, they hope to add e-commerce capabilities, so that they can ship Italian wines and authentic bolognese across the country.

“We value customer relationships, we value the response that we’ve gotten from the community. We feel totally humbled by the comments people make,” Lockwood said. “It’s humbling to hear those things. We want to keep it going, have more customers walk through the door and see what we offer.”

The Italian Market is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.