Sapore Italian Deli and Catering (Trumbull, CT)

Sapore Deli is located in my hometown of Trumbull, Connecticut with street address 2 Daniels Farm Road. This Italian deli is located in the central business district of the town which is known as Trumbull Center. The district consists of restaurants, as well as varying banks, office buildings, and other businesses like medical offices, and a tutoring center. Sapore’s location is what gives it its great success. There was rarely a day that went by without hearing its name in my high school. The reason why? The Deli is only 1.6 miles away from my high school. Becoming a customer at the Deli was almost a “rite of passage” to becoming an upperclassman at Trumbull High School. If you had a car and commuted to school, for breakfast you would go to Sapore’s to get a breakfast sandwich. When you got tired of eating dismal public school lunch you would leave campus (without permission) to snag a sandwich, chicken parmigiana, salad, or whatever the menu provided. For parent-teacher conferences teachers would always provide food for students that volunteered as student aides. The preferred teachers were the ones who offered to allow the students to order from Sapore instead of those providing store bought cookies and bagged chips. Sapore is frequented by high school students but allows caters for the community.

Due to Trumbull being a relatively small town (36,000) Trumbull is a rather tightly knit community in the sense that everyone has a sense of what the others are doing because of the activeness of families in the community. Also the places to commune and gather are not many, which allows for local businesses to thrive if they youth frequent it.

Trumbull Center has been known to have extremely high rent forcing some businesses to close. For example, Porricelli’s Food Mart, a local grocery store, closed in 2012 because of high rent and the inability to compete with large chain competition like Stop and Shop only 1.3 miles away. Sapore has stood strong because of its authentic Italian food and quality service that allows it to compete with franchises like Subway easily.

Trumbull, from my knowledge and how the city has grown throughout my lifetime, hasn’t faced gentrification. For example, newer homes have been built where there were once trees. But, I will note that some local stores like Porricelli’s and the Corner Deli (only 3 miles away from Trumbull Center) after being open for a few generations have come to closing and in their place franchises and upper scale businesses have entered. For example, Trumbull Center incorporated businesses like a Starbucks, and a Bar and Grill.

In Global Cities, Local Streets moral ownership of a local shop is discussed. That being that there is a sense of belonging that is not only about property rights of the business but rather a strong connection with culture of the space it’s located in. This applies to Sapore and its connection to the residents of Trumbull.  As stated before, Trumbull is a tightly knit community. Local business owners engage actively in the community, and make you feel like family when you enter their establishments.

Sapore Deli and Catering is local business that has important permanence.