Downtown a good fit for Il Forno

By MONICA JOSEPH
Goshen News Lifestyles Editor

May 26, 2007 10:13 pm

— In 2004, Mario and Carrie Garber had good news to share — the birth of a baby daughter. The year also brought bad news — Mario’s newly diagnosed kidney disease.
Was that the perfect time for Mario to quit his job and open his own restaurant?
Maybe not, Mario said, but there never is a “perfect time.”
“There are always risks,” he said. “There are always excuses not to do it.”
The couple was in their late 20s and decided that was a good time to “go for it,” he said. They leased the building at 127 S. Main St., started remodeling in 2004 and opened Il Forno the day after Thanksgiving in 2005.
Family support has been the key to the success of the Italian restaurant specializing in pizza, but also featuring pastas, sandwiches and salads.
Both Carrie and Mario’s families — the Bob and Jane Duell family and the Scott and Dolly Garber family — have helped out, both financially and by working in the restaurant.
“It’s a family affair,” Mario said.
Carrie’s father, Bob Duell, can frequently be seen in the restaurant, often greeting customers. Scott Garber was busy cleaning and prepping for the evening’s dinner crowd Thursday afternoon. Cara Duell (brother Nate’s wife) and Heather Duell (brother Josh’s wife) also work in the restaurant.
Earlier this year, Mario’s kidney disease caused him to be absent from the business for a good part of two and a half months.
Family members took over scheduling, payroll and other duties that are normally Mario’s responsibilities.
Mario said all the family support is greatly appreciated and the financial support was critical.
“I went to banks,” he said. “They did not want to touch a restaurant.”
Now after more than a year of operation and books that show the business’ viability, Mario is getting a loan to consolidate other funds and repay family. He is also planning to purchase the building he has been leasing from David Pottinger.
“If you show you don’t need the money, they (banks) are happy to give it to you,” he said with a laugh.
The History
Mario is a 1994 Goshen High School graduate and received an organizational management degree from Bethel College. Carrie, a teacher at West Goshen Elementary School, is a 1993 graduate of Concord High School, a graduate of Bethel College and earned her master’s degree from Indiana Wesleyan University.
Mario has been in the food service industry since high school, starting out at Greencroft. He spent two years at Das Dutchman Essenhaus developing its catering business, and managed the food service at Oakwood Inn for two years.
“I had always planned to open my own restaurant,” Mario said.
He also knew he wanted to be on Main Street — somewhere that would draw in foot traffic from the business crowd.
He did research at the Goshen Chamber of Commerce before deciding on an Italian restaurant.
“They have reports that show what other cities of the same size have that we don’t,” Mario said.
Mario had work experience in pizza parlors and thought that would be a good fit for downtown. He wanted something unique, however.
“I knew I wanted a brick oven,” he said. “That’s a good centerpiece.”
Il Forno’s kitchen has a large brick oven that has the capacity to burn wood — a technique that adds a different dimension to the pizza.
He uses the wood-fired technique on Mondays, which creates a different type of pizza than served the rest of the week.
“It’s catching on,” he said. On Mondays, the pizza crust is made from a special sourdough with no yeast and garnished with fresh basil and mozzarella.
“It has a different taste than what most people think of as pizza,” he said.
The pizza the rest of the week is more of what Americans are used to, he said, but it is still cooked in the brick oven with freshly-made dough and other ingredients.
While pizza is his specialty, Mario said the pastas also sell well, along with the sandwiches, calzones and specialty salads (Il Forno recently got a new menu.)
The restaurant has a back room that seats 35 that can be reserved for working lunches and other gatherings.
When asked what draws people to his establishment, Mario said immediately: “The food.”
He also believes reasonable prices and the family-friendly atmosphere are a bonus.
“The key is to keep prices fair,” he said. “I was under-pricing at first. You have to make it fair — not underpricing and not over-pricing — but at what it takes to run the business.”
The cleanliness of the restaurant is also something he is proud of.
“I would not hesitate to say this is one of the cleanest restaurants,” Mario said. “We spend a lot of time and energy cleaning. There is always someone mopping or dusting.”
Mario said he enjoys being part of Goshen’s retail community and he tries in his own way to help keep local businesses in business.
He hired Goshen’s Zehr Construction and Maust Architectural Services for the remodeling work and Micheal Geiger (Lincoln Avenue) as his accountant.
He also patronizes his fellow downtown businesses.
On Thursday, he got his hair cut at ShooBeDoo. He buys wine from Scott McDowell’s Gateway Cellar, purchases items at John Hall Hardware, has bought bread from Rachel’s Bread, tomatoes and fresh herbs from the Farmer’s Market and items from San Marcos grocery store down the street. He also sends customers over to the Electric Brew for coffee.
Mario said he thinks Goshen’s downtown is heading in a good direction, adding that the new “First Fridays,” a collaborative endeavor to draw more people downtown, “is a good start.”
He said there is still room downtown for other businesses, including another restaurant.
He doesn’t see another eatery as competition, but as another way to get people in the habit of coming downtown.
“People aren’t going to eat pizza every night. It wouldn’t be competition. It would be a draw,” he said of a new restaurant.

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