CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. — When John Flora was 21, he was opening his first restaurant in Miami.
Visiting from Brooklyn, Flora said he was frustrated he couldn’t find good pizza.
Fifty years later, he’s feeding people authentic Italian food at Flora’s Italian Eatery in Coral Springs — and he’s doing it with a showman’s flair.
Flora greets every visitor like a favorite uncle, always smiling, always playful.
“Look at this guy. He’s a movie star and by the way, if you don’t know, he’s a movie star,” he said, joking with a customer.
In Flora’s world, food is love — and so is the wine, the bread, the meats and cheeses, the coffee and dessert.
“You’re not buying imitation stuff,” he said. “You’re buying real Italian cold cuts.”
Flora, now one of the nation’s largest distributors of Italian goods, credits hard work and faith in the American dream.
“I’m a true example of the American dream,” he said. “If you work hard and you believe in this country, it will reward you in many ways.”
Flora’s journey began when he was 10, moving with his family from Bari, Italy, a town along the Adriatic Sea and home to St. Nicholas. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, learning to cook from his mother.
In the 1970s, he moved to Miami in search of opportunity, but vacationing on Miami Beach, he said he couldn’t find real pizza.
“Italian food and wines appeal to every ethnic race, every country, just about everybody on earth is a customer,” Flora said.
Flora and his wife, Irene, have run the family business together for 48 years.
In the early 1980s, they shifted from running restaurants to importing Italian food and wine full time. Today, their products can be found in Publix, Winn-Dixie, Walmart, Costco, and Whole Foods.
“We’re guaranteeing you that there’s a family behind all of these products and there’s love behind all of these products,” Flora said.
Now back in the restaurant business, Flora’s Coral Springs headquarters features a café and Italian marketplace featuring his line of fine foods, while upstairs, Angela’s Bar & Kitchen, inspired by his daughter, highlights dishes from Italy’s 20 regions.
“There’s so many special dishes that I’ve tried over the years that I wish we could get here,” said Angela Flora.“ So that was kind of the concept of when I wanted to open a restaurant, I said I want to bring the people things they never even heard of before and show them how great these dishes are.”
John Flora told Local 10 that has no plans to retire.
“When people pay for ‘Made in Italy’ then let’s give it to them,” he said.
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