Changing the Face of Detroit One Meatball at a Time

Although I am a legal writer by trade, and an avid reviewer of many businesses, today, I am attempting to write about something much more important.

There is no easy way to sum up the life of any one individual, but every so often there comes along someone, who touches the lives of countless others – either firsthand or via extension of service – and that person deserves some recognition.

Lawrence “Larry Sr.” Joseph Bongiovanni was such a man. Larry Sr., who owned the Salvatore Scallopini franchise of establishments among others, serviced the culinary world in and around Metro-Detroit for numerous decades. I met him nearly 20 years ago while in his employ at his Eastpointe Salvatore Scallopini.

I met Larry Sr. soon after his son, loving called LBJ (Larry Bongiovanni Jr.), hired me back in 2001. I was at first extremely nervous around Larry Sr.; yet, before long, after a handful of one-on-one discussions with my employer he quickly became more than just my superior.

Over the years I was lucky enough to have shared some amazingly insightful conversations with Larry Sr., which in turn transformed him into more of a mentor. His son, LBJ, was also an amazing mentor throughout my thirteen year tenor. Of course, the counsel and advice of someone older is always dissimilar from one closer to your own age; on the other hand, the one constant was the bestowing of stoicism, words of encouragement, unique insights and passion.

If you never met Larry Sr. you missed out on one of the most passionate men I’ve ever known. His daily schedule, driving to his various establishment to check on things, taking meetings, placing telephonic arrangements and more – all of which was carried out with passion. The man loved what he did for a living, and what he did changed Metro-Detroit forever, opening the way for restaurant chains like Andiamo’s are more.

There were, of course, countless times when he and I would disagree on how the day-to-day operations of his restaurants should be carried out, yet that never impeded my respect for him nor his perspective. Why? Because he was open to change. He certainly wasn’t a fan of all of the crazy changes our society has undergone over his time within the industry, but he did embrace the changes when he could. I worked for Larry Sr. when wearing jeans to work was inappropriate. When having your shirts pressed was of great import. When coming to work clean shaven was desirable, and many other “rules” of the workplace meant something. But those times are gone.

He fought me on some of the changes, but learned to embrace the others, because he knew all too well that you have to be thinking and moving ahead in this business less you take the chance of growing old in body and spirit. I think that is how he stayed so “young” right up until the end. Either way, for a man of his generation I have rarely been witness to someone embracing “the new” as much as Larry Sr. did.

And when speaking of embracing it’s important to note how Larry Sr. embraced people. The man treated everyone differently, which was not just a managerial tool, but also a humane way to treat others. People are as diverse, with a multitude of experiences, believes, and goals; nevertheless, once Larry Sr. spoke in depth with someone he seemed to learn those things about each individual, using the information to better communicate with them. That alone is something we can all commend.

There are hundreds of stories I could easily share about Larry Sr. with you all, and there are likely tens of thousands more that other employees could share as well. Some are shared experiences with other people, some with his son LBJ, and some will forever remain between just him and I, but I WILL share this…

A sincere “thank you.” Thank you Larry for all of the little kindnesses over the years. Thank you for your keen insight and business acumen, which you bequeathed me. Thank you for being one of the people in my life, who instilled in me an honest belief that I COULD do anything, regardless of how hard it may be.

Thank you for the gift of your children, Joe, Kara, and specifically, LBJ, who I worked immediately under for the majority of my tenure, teaching me much about business and life in general.

Most of all Larry, I thank you for what you did for Metro-Detroit. Creating your restaurants enabled countless families in your employee to put food on the table, keep a roof over their heads, and to send their children to college. You donated time, money and food to a copious amount of charities over the years, assisting them in getting the word out about the causes they represented. You entertained Metro-Detroit, providing affordable, well-crafted Italian and American cuisine, hosting us with a big smile and gregarious nature. You touched more lives than you likely knew, but we did.

Larry, your memory and zest for life with continue on not only in your offspring, but also IN ALL OF US, who were blessed to have known you in some capacity throughout your many years on this earth. We are all better off having known you. I appreciate you. I love you. And I will miss you. May you rest in peace, basking in the knowledge that you were loved by us all, and changed many lives for the better – one meatball at a time.