A FAMILY-OWNED ITALIAN SPECIALTY GROCER MARKS 14 YEARS IN MONMOUTH COUNTY BY ERIK SCHONING PHOTOS

BY ALEX BARRETO

John Livoti and his son, JB Livoti, visit Italy once a year not to sunbathe on the Amalfi Coast or sightsee in Rome, but to hand-select products for their boutique line of Italian grocery stores. Many of the local cheeses and meats they sample eventually make it to the shelves of Livoti’s Old World Market. A staple of Monmouth County since it debuted in 2010 (the Livotis now have five locations to date), the company has built its reputation on a keen attention to detail and emphasis on high-quality food. John Livoti is a lifelong veteran of the grocery business. A second generation Italian-American, Livoti knows firsthand the dizzying demand for quality Italian specialties in New Jersey. In 2009, he set out to launch his own brand, settling on Aberdeen as the site for his flagship store.

“I decided I wanted to work for myself and provide my family with a business of their own that could be passed down,” said Livoti. “I loved the area; there were so many Italian-American New Yorkers who I thought would love what I had to offer. So in 2010 I opened the first Livoti’s Old World Market location and thankfully it was a huge hit with the community.”

True to Livoti’s founding vision, the company remains a family business today. John’s son, JB, is vice president of the company, and like his father, JB grew up in the food business and remembers grating cheese and making heroes as a kid. When his father asked him to join the business in 2014, he left college to help with the launch of the Marlboro store. JB Livoti entered the business as it was expanding, and much of his work over the last ten years has been to carefully create a consistent experience across all five stores.

“We’re a family owned and operated business,” JB Livoti said. “So we were never super corporate with our structures, packaging, and the like. We’ve had to create an in-house marketing team. We’ve focused on implementations to make sure that all the stores are as consistent as possible, so when you go into one store you have the same experience and products as the others.”

Each Livoti’s location is a complete market experience with produce, deli, grocery, dairy, frozen, seafood, pizza, meat, and floral departments, plus a full bakery. But unlike typical supermarkets, the Livotis stock every store with artisanal Italian specialties. In the bakery, you’ll find cannolis and mini lobster tails; at the butcher counter, there are flank steak pinwheels with spinach and mozza rella. The market also stocks private label products, including canned tomatoes, olive oil, pasta, jarred sauces, tarrali, sausage, and soppressata. The goal, as evidenced in the name of the stores, is to bring a taste of old-world Italy to New Jersey as authentically as possible.

“When we go to Italy, we try to bring over the products that are absolute staples,” said JB Livoti. “Our vendors bring us the best of what’s coming to the market. And especially now, there’s a growing demand for new and different products. Burrata is huge right now, as is truffle. We just try to keep up with demand and make sure we have those products to serve our customers’ needs.”

Since its inception, Livoti’s Old World Market has also been a major player in the catering business. Knighted as the Number 1 Gourmet Caterer by Monmouth Health & Life and a 2023 winner of Asbury Park Press’s Best of the Best, Livoti’s has a solid reputation as the county’s go-to place for catering. In recent years, under the leadership of JB Livoti, the company has modern ized its catering business to keep up with the ever-swelling demand.

“Word of mouth has been amazing for us,” JB Livoti said. “Every Christmas, we serve hundreds of families through our catering department. A lot of guys work with cheaper, lesser-quality items, but we go for the higher-end products, something you can really be proud to put on the table for your family. That’s what we strive for and I think that’s what separates us from the competition.”

This year, the Livotis’ fifth store opened in Brick. While the company will continue to expand, JB Livoti stresses that the goal is to grow responsibly, never losing the small-business ethos the Livoti’s Old World Market name was founded on.

“We care deeply about every aspect of our company,” John Livoti said. “Besides my three children and son-in-law having a physical presence in all locations every single day [JB, Matteo Livoti, Amanda Ali, and Mike Ali], we have cousins and uncles on site as well. We are not a big company that only worries about the bottom line. We have a passion for the industry and want to see our company grow and thrive for our family and the community we serve.”

It’s an old-fashioned approach to doing business, but that’s been the company’s philosophy from the onset: bringing a bit of the old world into the new.

Livoti’s Old World Market

1930 NJ-88 Suite 6, Brick Township/ 1077 Route 34, Aberdeen / 160 Highway 9, Englishtown

1151 Route 35 Middletown / 200 Mounts Corner Drive, Freehold / livotisoldworldmarket.com