Growing up at Coia’s in Glasgow’s Dennistoun

We speak to Carlo Coia on what it’s like growing up in one of Glasgow’s most renowned restaurants.

Transcript

00:00This business means more to me than anyone can ever imagine, you know, and to my father as well.

00:05The earliest memory is seeing my nonna, seeing my nonna, lots of ice cream, lots of confectionery,

00:10lots of sweets, shelves used to be filled to the brim, you know, there wasn't a free shelf at all.

00:15Coming in after school, seeing the family work, busy weekends, you know, I never, we didn't,

00:20as a family, as a young man, a lot of time was getting sacrificed as a family as well, you know,

00:26I didn't have all the time with my parents as I probably, you know, as most, you know,

00:32young kids would have, you know. But in regards to the business, it was all very traditional

00:36back then as well, you know, looking at what the locals wanted, what people used to,

00:42people used to come from quite some ways to get to us as well, you know, but just looking

00:48at a local community and that's a lot of hard work, a lot of graft. For us anyway,

00:53it's down to the ambition of the business owner, the ambition of the, of what the intentions are

00:59of the business. My father's intention was always, he went to, the first thing he wanted to do was

01:03go and train as a chef, he always wanted a restaurant, he would say that he wanted to

01:07have his own restaurant, put his name to the restaurant, so I think he was a massive driver

01:11and my mother as well, sorry, I can't, I need to mention my mother as well, she was, the two of

01:15them were massive drivers in the next transition of the business and the transition was going from

01:19cafe traditional to, you know, a well-established restaurant that has a lot of great qualities in

01:28their food as well, introducing new things to the area as well, which we have done, and you can see

01:33that the menu is completely different now, you know, and what we offer, what we offer as a service

01:38is completely different. I think when you grow up with something, you've always got an attachment

01:42to it, you know, I think, I think when you're, when you're in the rope, inside the ropes,

01:47this business means more to me than anyone can ever imagine, you know,

01:52and to my father as well, it's got a serious sentimental value.