Alonti Cafe

In relocating their gourmet grocery business from New York City to Houston, Cecile and Al Pepi’s plan was to slow their hectic pace of life a bit. However that wasn’t quite how things turned out. The Pepis opened Houston’s first Alonti Market Café in 1974, carrying the same connoisseur-quality food they had offered in New York. It wasn’t long before customer traffic had the business running at a “big apple” pace.

That wasn’t the only surprise for the Pepis. They also discovered that the main attraction wasn’t their epicurean selection of smoked turkeys, imported cheeses and copper cookware, but rather, the sandwich counter they had put in almost as an afterthought.

In time, the deli business overtook the grocery business, as Al and Cecile expanded their menu to include items such as fresh salads, pastas and soups, and added a catering service to serve their growing business clientele.

From there, Alonti Market Café and Catering business grew bigger and busier by the year. Not that Al and Cecile really minded.

In 1991, Al Pepi Jr. succeeded his father as president of the company. He continues to expand the business into new markets and menu offerings … always mindful to carry on Al and Cecile’s legacy of Alonti quality and service as defined in their original slogan, “We make our recipes from scratch and we serve our customers fast.”
-- http://www.alonti.com/