Vivo Cucina Finds 23rd Location to Fail At
Todd Marcianto has been around the block a few times. He knows a thing or two about the restaurant business. Among them, recooking microwave Italian dishes and closing doors. Vivo Cucina, a dream of Marcianto first opened its doors in 1997 at its original location in the Hilltop Shopping Center in Virginia Beach as a local Italian family-style bistro. Marcianto designed his establishment with national-chainlike characteristics in hopes that he could quickly franchise Vivo out across the U.S. Instead, he found that he had chosen a poor location, overestimating the market for faux-authentic Italian food served in a pergatory-esque setting with Sutter Home wines. He has since opened and closed Vivo Cucina 22 times in the past 10 years in different sections of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. “The first rule to having a successful restaurant is Location, Location, Location… anyone will tell you that”, says Marcianto. “I just made a poor decision the first 20 or so times around.” He’s sure that his newest location, a smaller retail space in the corner of the Haygood Shopping Center, just behind the Quizno’s and Chik-Fil-A will finally “be the one”. “I’m pretty sure this is the spot that will work best for Vivo because a lot of people drive down this road and it’s kind of close to the Amphibious base”, says Marcianto. “I suspect Navy Seals enjoy a good Italian meal”.
A-H-R was unable to locate a return customer of Vivo throughout many survey efforts, but we did send a reporter to investigate the whole “Vivo experience” at their newest location. What we found was that the menu was still the same as it was at Vivo’s original Hilltop location in the late 90’s. When asked if it could be his food that wasn’t a success rather than location, Marcianto became offended and asked us to leave. As two members of our staff were ushered out the door, Marcianto told us: “You wouldn’t know real Italian food if it hit you in the face!”. Holding the door open for a microwave repairman, we thanked him for his time. The new Vivo is now open on weekends to better serve customers.
