Our July Roundtable took us to Italian Village, the 99-year-old, fourth-generation family-owned restaurant in the Loop. Giovanna and Jonathan Capitanini shared their family’s story: their great-grandfather Alfredo emigrated from Tuscany, started as a dishwasher, and opened Italian Village just three years after arriving in Chicago. They spoke about their commitment to their team, including staff members who’ve been with them for 50+ years, and the importance of keeping the American Dream alive by supporting immigrant communities. Kirk Bacastow of LG Builders talked construction: the build itself is the easy part. The real work is everything you do to get ready before you break ground. We closed with breakout groups on working with family and friends in business. The Brené Brown line “clear is kind” came up as a guide for giving honest feedback, and the group returned to one core idea: when a hard issue comes up with family, it should always be “us against the problem,” not you against each other.

A big thank you to Rodrick Markus, founder of Rare Tea Cellar, for the truffles in the breakfast sandwiches from Chef David!