A Dundee entrepreneur who runs a successful catering firm has opened her first bricks and mortar bringing an Italian paninoteca to the city.
Chiara Di Ponio-Horne launched Mezzaluna Catering and Events in 2019 and has now taken up residency in the former The Snack Shop building on Whitehill Crescent to run her new Italian sandwich shop from.
The paninoteca will boast a range of Mediterranean dishes for takeaway, including the firm’s much-in-demand cannoli. It will also stock a small selection of Italian produce which is available to purchase.
Open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm, Chiara has had to employ additional staff to operate the venue and the shop is already proving extremely popular with customers keen to sample the new offering.
She said: “The business has kind of went through a few different stages. We started out in 2019 as a street food business. Then we moved into wedding catering and with the pandemic we moved more into attending farmers’ markets and doing home deliveries.
“I had my son at the end of September last year and I thought, ‘I need to get out of the house’ because it was just getting crazy. The shop popped up and I thought it would be the perfect wee place to start my own Mezzaluna shop.
“We will still be doing wedding catering and smaller private catering, too.”
The food
Undecided on what she would do with the space until two weeks before opening, Chiara has based the offering on an Italian sandwich shop, offering some of her much-loved favourites she enjoys when visiting family in Italy.
She added: “It is based on a traditional Italian paninoteca which is basically an Italian sandwich shop. We use the best quality Italian products and we source everything from a range of amazing suppliers. Everything is super fresh.
“We have hot ciabatta rolls and I made up the Mezzaluna breakfast roll which is a ciabatta roll, fried egg, prosciutto crudo, grilled onions, chips, chives and our homemade garlic aioli – everything I wanted in the morning.
“Our salsicha (sausage) is made especially for us and we use that in a cooked ciabatta roll or in focaccia, and there are cured meats and marinated vegetables to enjoy, too.
“There’s a limited selection of Italian products on sale. They remind me of items we get when I go to Italy to see family. We’ve got San Carlo tomato and original crisps, silver and green olives, balsamic and vinegar oils and some biscuits we have with a latte in Italy – it is quite nostalgic!”
Cannoli – a product of the pandemic
The cannoli dessert she launched during lockdown has experienced huge success with Chiara now making them for wholesale customers.
Originally starting with four flavours, she has expanded the range to 10 in the shop.
“We used to just do pistachio and lemon, salted caramel, chocolate chip and chocolate orange and hazelnut,” said Chiara.
“However, we’ve now got Scottish tablet, Kinder Bueno, Biscoff and more. We do proper coffee, too!
“The cannoli was born during the pandemic. I really like making sweet things and during lockdown I just started offering them. It really took off. We sell them at shops, for wholesale and markets, too now. Weekly we’ll be making hundreds. We go through a lot of them! ”
Family affair
Inspired to start her business by her grandad initially, it is a family affair at Mezzaluna with many of the Di Ponio family involved in the business.
“My grandad moved from Italy to Dundee in the 1950s. He worked a lot of different jobs and set up a fish and chip shop and that became the family business. He is the most amazing cook. A lot of the food is based on what we eat with the family and that is sort of how Mezzaluna was formed – proper Italian home-cooked food,” said Chiara.
“My staff are basically family and friends. My brother, Riccardo, works with me, my sister, Alessia, does my social media. It actually began with my mum, Maria, helping me out right at the start and I have a couple of girls who are family friends, or who I have worked with before. My dad, Bene, is also my accountant! Everyone is involved. There are five siblings in the family so there’s a few of us.
“We have taken on new people who have just started. One has been a friend of mine for years and the other is a friend of a friend who works for me currently. It is really nice and makes it a nice place to work.
“My husband, Lee, is so supportive. It has been a long journey to get to where we are and I couldn’t have done it without him and my son Freddie.”
