Marco O.

Marco grew up in Brooklyn in an Italian American family, assisting his parents with their restaurants throughout his childhood. In 2011, Marco joined the team at Eataly Flatiron as a Floor Manager at La Pizza & La Pasta restaurant. His work ethic and leadership skills were evident, and Marco was invited to help open Eataly’s second store in the USA – Eataly Chicago.

At Flatiron, Marco went on to become the General Manager of Restaurants and ultimately the Store Director. In his current role, Marco oversees both Eataly locations in New York City – Eataly Flatiron and Eataly Downtown. In addition to creating strategy and providing leadership to drive the NY teams to success, Marco loves to be operational and present on the floor. You can find him doing anything from stocking shelves to helping guests find their way around Eataly. In his free time, Marco enjoys being a tourist in his own native city.

In your own words, what is Eataly?
“Eataly is its own little town in each of its locations that provides you three key categories of experience – a shopping experience, a learning experience, and an eating experience. You can create all three of those at any Eataly anywhere in the world. If you’re looking for a piece of prosciutto or an avocado, Eataly can provide that. If you’re looking for a fine dining experience or a very casual experience, Eataly can provide it. If you’re looking to make gnocchi, or read about a product, we can provide that. It’s really an experience that’s no longer a 30-minute market experience, but now a two-hour experience that you can have.”

What have you learned about Italian food while working at Eataly?
“Entering Eataly for the first time, I was shocked at how many things I didn’t know about the Italian food world. Mozzarella, for example, was something I took for granted. I never saw it made in front of me and put into a cup of water. It was always refrigerated in our household. I took it home to my parents, and they didn’t understand why it was in water. I explained that this is how it should be served, and how it stays fresh the best. So those types of things – the list can go on forever for how Eataly treats their products, and that’s why our quality surpasses many of our competitors.”

What is the best part of your job?
“The best part of the store director job is getting to know the 300+ employees at our Eataly locations. Seeing the success of individual stores with the leadership team and the people in each store involved in creating it is the best part of what we do every day.”