Family Business Doesn't Always Mean Family

Family doesn’t end with blood. Family isn’t just your mother, father and siblings. Family is the people you surround yourself with when things go wrong. Family is the people you help out, no matter the circumstance. La famiglia non è solo la tua famiglia.

The staff at Le Vespe is a family.

Le Vespe is a Canadian café on Via Ghibellina. It’s open Monday-Fridays from 9AM-3PM, and Saturdays and Sundays from 10AM-3PM.

Gaia opened Le Vespe in November 2013 with her business partner Selena Cristo-Williams. Their goal was simple: open a café in Florence that served healthy, fresh Canadian breakfast and lunches. Selena had moved from Toronto about two years before. Gaia was just returning home to Florence after spending seven months in Canada “to have an experience and to improve [her] English.” While in Canada, Gaia noticed the cafés offered healthy breakfast dishes that were not easily found in Italy. She wanted to bring more diversity to the breakfast scene in Florence for both locals and visitors.

The number of international tourists in Italy has been rising since 2008, with over 52 million arriving in 2016 according to the World Bank Group. Italy has been the second leading destination for American study abroad students since 2003 according to the Institute of International Education. The IIE also states that 31.8% of all US study abroad students go for one semester. It’s no surprise then that places that serve traditional American and Canadian breakfasts, like Le Vespe, become particularly popular among study abroad students.

In addition to their delicious food, Le Vespe offers an abundant list of coffees, teas, juices, smoothies, and alcoholic drinks.

Le Vespe translates into “the wasps,” seemingly an odd creature to use as inspiration for naming one’s café. However, Gaia explains that the name was a perfect fit for their new home.

“La vespa, in some cultures, not in the Italian one but especially in the African one, is a little like bees because it means cooperation, collaboration between women because we are two partners.” Gaia clarifies, “The wasp is a little bit more rock ‘n’ roll than the bee, though!”

According to theMid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium, there are three types of bees: the queen, workers, and drones. Each type has different tasks to perform, “but surviving and reproducing take the combined efforts of the entire colony.” The entire beehive depends on one another to function – similar to the environment at Le Vespe.

“The policy of Le Vespe is to work with everybody with a good feeling and helping each other,” Gaia explains. “It’s not like a big company, like you’re just numbers.”

I’d been to Le Vespe a couple times prior to meeting Gaia Tilli, one of the owners. Coming into the small café right when they opened at 9AM offered a very different atmosphere than my previous visits. The morning was calmer than the lunch rush, the restaurant populated more by the employees than customers. The staff was scurrying about, preparing for the day. Gaia was hanging the burlap shades from the umbrella on the patio when I arrived. She went inside for a moment before meeting me on the patio to chat over coffee. She stopped on her way to greet Enrico with a kiss on the cheek, making me smile. I hadn’t asked a single question yet, and already I could tell that these people were more than just employees to Gaia. Le Vespe was more than just a job.

Gaia Tilli, one of the owners of Le Vespe, folds utensils into napkins during a slow period at the café.

“We are like a family with everybody. Some of the people working here, they were friends of mine before and then started to work here,” Gaia explains to me.

Enrico Mocenni, the waiter Gaia had greeted with a kiss, is one of those friends-turned-employee Gaia is describing. Enrico has been working at Le Vespe on and off for the past two years. He first met Gaia as a customer at Le Vespe, and soon was hanging out with her and the rest of the staff outside of the restaurant, getting drinks and getting to know one another. Now, however, Enrico’s fellow employees are more than just friends.

“Y’know it’s like a family. It’s like a family business,” Enrico tells me with a smile. “We’re a team… We work well together and we have fun every day.”

It isn’t just all fun and games at Le Vespe, though. Like any true family, the employees are there for one another in times of need. If someone needs a shift covered, or if the kitchen staff needs an extra hand, there is always someone willing to step up.

Le Vespe offers traditional Canadian and American breakfast items such as pancakes with maple syrup and bacon.

“There are no competitions here,” Gaia informs me. “Maybe for somebody outside of a restaurant or bar situation this is not clear, but this kind of job is usually very competitive. Kitchen and floor are not always collaborating properly.”

That just isn’t the case at Le Vespe. Here, everyone seems to be willing to offer a hand. Even when the problems are outside of work.

During our interview, Gaia opened up to me about some rather personal information. Out of respect for her and her staff, the details of these stories will not be published to my blog. You’ll just have to take my word for it when I say that the people at Le go above and beyond for each other. Gaia has been there for her employees when they’ve needed help most, just like they were there for her.

Le Vespe is more than just a Canadian café. For Gaia and the rest of the staff, it’s like home; e la casa è dove si trova la famiglia.