Barry Island’s family empire that has moved with the times
IT all started with squash. The Zeraschi business empire on Barry Island, which has been going since 1958, started with a drinks delivery to the Vale of Glamorgan resort.
In those days squash was big business and brothers Frank [Francesco] and Joe would make deliveries to shops and cinemas all over south Wales.
The two Second World War veterans were making a stop at the popular seaside town when they saw a property for sale.
The business became the Piccolo and it was the start of the Zeraschi family’s relationship with Barry Island, which is now entering its seventh decade and its third generation.
It was the same year that Frank’s youngest and most gregarious son was born and his name has since become synonymous with the island.
THE UPS AND DOWNS
Marco Zeraschi turns 60 this year, but he has the energy and ambition of a man half his age.
Sitting at a table in his famous cafe on the seafront on Barry Island, he is a man content.
Over a coffee, he animatedly describes his family’s close ties with the island, but such is his popularity the conversation is frequently interrupted by regular customers, friends and delivery drivers, all happy to see the man who runs a business that is geographically and metaphorically at the heart of Barry Island.
At the moment business is good for the Zeraschi family, but it hasn’t always been that way.
Over the years they seen bad times as well as good.
The loss of Butlins was an absolute hammer blow to the family and businesses on the Island.
“We went from a holiday resort to day-trippers,” Marco explains.
“And day-tripper resorts rely purely on the weather. If it is raining, they don’t come; if it’s sunny, they come.”
This was at the end of the 1990s and the business took such a turn for the worse that Marco left the running of The Rock Shop to his son Nino while he took a job at Cardiff Airport as a baggage handler.
Although he enjoyed his five years working at the airport, an opportunity arose that brought him back to the island in 2003.
The site of Marco’s Cafe is slapbang on the Promenade, and independent from the sheltered western Promenade.
However, despite its prominent position, it was not always a cafe.
Before it became Marco’s Cafe it was a shop selling buckets and spades and other beach paraphernalia.
When it came on the market Marco made his move, with a little help from some friends.
The Sidoli family chipped in with six tables and 18 chairs to help get him started.
And it was their encouragement that pushed Marco to start serving coffee from the site.
The advice was: “You’ll only sell a customer a bucket and spade maybe twice a year; you can sell them coffee every day.”
Now Marco sees the site as a hub. A gathering place for all people.
As we chat he points out regulars, such as the group he dubs “the Mediterranean Mafia”, and recounts stories about different customers.
He recalls how his wife once pointed out a solitary customer and told him to keep an eye on her. So Marco started introducing her to other regulars in the cafe. “She now has a better social life than I do,” he laughs.
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
Community and family are two themes that crop up time and again as you talk to Marco.
Marco is happy to give fledging businesses a helping hand.
He sponsored the first GlastonBarry festival. That event, in 2013, had just 600 attendees at the Memo Arts Centre – this year Romilly Park hosted and it attracted more than 4,500 people on both the Saturday and the Sunday.
Ubiquitous brand Barrybados was also given a helping hand by Marco.
“Marco has been a great help in helping Barrybados,” says the gift shop’s co-founder Louis Ross.
“When we first started, we didn’t know each other. I knew his son, Nino, a little from watching Cardiff City.
“Immediately he wanted to stock our mugs, which was a huge boost. Then he offered us to pitch up a stall at the cafe during the summer, which was massive in helping us grow.
“We’re ever so grateful and can’t thank him enough for allowing us to do that. It really helped us find our audience during the early years and enhanced the position of the brand for the future.”
Marco is also the first to welcome new businesses to the island.
He is excited and looking forward to seeing the redevelopment of the Grade II-listed toilet block on Nell’s Point into a collection of cafes and restaurants.