Pete Alfano Sr.’s grandfather had a restaurant in Rochelle long before Alfano’s Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant.

He got sick in the late 1970s and had to close and sell. Alfano Sr. spent much of his formative years in Rochelle with his grandfather.

“I promised him when I was 12 or 13 years old that one day I would come back and continue his legacy,” Alfano Sr. said. “And I did. And now 30 years later, I always feel like I have him beside me.”

Alfano’s Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant at 1115 Turkington Terrace in Rochelle celebrated 30 years in Rochelle on Friday, April 10. The family-run restaurant boasts a legacy as a gathering space for celebrations and as a local employer.

The business started out in the Caron Ridge Shopping Center in 1996 and stayed there for five years before moving to its current Turkington Terrace location. Alfano Sr. runs the restaurant alongside his wife, Josie, and children, Pete Jr. and Cristina.

“It’s a blessing to reach 30 years,” Alfano Sr. said. “When you work with family, it makes it more special. We’re very fortunate to be able to pass on what my grandfather passed on to us. We always try to improve and we’ve done that over 30 years. You can never stand still. Because if you’re standing still, you’re falling back. We’re always trying to improve and bring bigger and better to our community.”

The April 10 celebration saw attendance by community members and Rochelle Mayor John Bearrows and Rochelle Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tricia Herrera, who presented the Alfano family with a plaque in honor of reaching 30 years.

Herrera thanked the Alfano family for its support of the chamber, its members and the community. Bearrows called reaching 30 years “an amazing feat.”

“That’s not done by one person alone,” Bearrows said. “That’s done by a conglomeration of employees and staff and everything that makes this place what it is. The leadership that Pete has provided and now how we look to the next generation coming up, we hope that the next 30 years will be just like the first 30 years. There have been so many times when you have stepped in to help someone in need. You have always said you’ve been blessed. There is a reason for that. Because you bless others.”

Alfano Sr. called the day “emotional” and thanked the community and current and past staff members for their support over 30 years.

Working alongside family has been a “fantastic” experience over 30 years, Alfano Sr. said.

“I can’t even put into words what it’s like to do this with my kids,” Alfano Sr. said. “That’s probably my biggest blessing. I think my parents and my grandfather saw it. And now I’ve had the incredible pleasure to say that I’ve seen it too.”

Over the years, Alfano Sr. has made it a priority to employ young people from the Rochelle area and give them an introduction to the workforce and values to take away from their experience. He’s seen those former employees grow up to have families of their own, with some children of former employees even coming to work at the restaurant as their parents did.

“Over the last 30 years, we’ve had hundreds of young people work with us,” Alfano Sr. said. “The 30 years are all attributed to each and every single one of them and their sacrifice, support, loyalty and friendship. I feel a great deal of responsibility in employing young people. We try to instill things that might help them in the future, especially our high school and young college kids. We want to point them in the right direction when they’re here.”

Running a small business over 30 years has seen the Alfano family navigate economic changes, a pandemic and changes in the hospitality industry.

“Fortunately we’ve been doing it a long time and that experience helps us,” Alfano Sr. said. “All the work is made worth it by the people we do it for and the people we do it with. It stopped being about money a long time ago. Now it’s about the satisfaction. If somebody sees our family at the store or at church, I want them to smile and say that’s a good family. Not that we make good food. But that we’re good people.”

“We’ve been incredibly blessed by this awesome community. And I hope we’ve shown over the last years how much we appreciate it.”