Episode 87: Of Gas Stations and Gourmet Italian: The Massimo's Tale with Bill Rinetti

What if the one place you least expected to end up was exactly where you were meant to be? Join us on a captivating journey as we sit down with Bill Renetti, owner of the renowned Massimo's Restaurant. As we peel back the layers of Massimo's rich history, Bill openly shares about his father's leap of faith from running a gas station in East Oakland to embracing his true passion as a restaurateur. 

Let's venture together into the evolution of Massimo's, from its humble beginnings as an airport and German restaurant in Fremont to its transformation into a cherished Italian heritage hub. Bill invites us into his own story of dreams deferred and the magnetic pull of family business, a compelling tale that echoes the very essence of Massimo's. From business studies to pasta dishes, he walks us through his transition from aspiring architect to restaurateur since taking over operations in 1985.

As we saunter deeper into the essence of Massimo's, we find at its core, a heart that thrives on community. Bill reflects on the changes in relationships over the years and the conscious effort to create a dining experience that extends beyond the boundaries of food. Hear about the latest additions to their menu, the stories behind their signature dishes and how they continue to host memorable life events. As we wrap up, we're left with more than just the legacy of a family-run restaurant but a testament to the power of shared meals and stories in fostering community ties. Tune in to discover a slice of Fremont's heart in Massimo's Restaurant.

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This episode was edited by Andrew C.

Scheduling and background was done by Sara S.

This is a Muggins Media Podcast.

Transcript

Gary Williams: 1:43

I'm Gary Williams. If you would please leave a review on iTunes. Your reviews help other people find this podcast.

Ricky B: 1:52

And I love the fact that you view your customers as not the ones who just show up today and buy the food today, but you view customers as people who you see regularly, that have been here over long periods of time. They're people who've basically you've become a part of their life over long periods of time and they become a part of your life.

Bill Rinetti: 2:14

That is, that is. That is so, that is. You hit the nail on the head.

Gary Williams: 2:19

Coming to you straight from Fremont, California. This is the Fremont podcast, dedicated to telling the stories of the past and present of the people and places of the city of Fremont, one conversation at a time.

Andrew C: 2:32

Hello, fremont Ricky told me to sit on the top of a chain link fence and tell you this is episode 87 of the Fremont podcast.

Gary Williams: 2:41

Now here's your host, ricky B, if I want to hear.

Ricky B: 2:45

if I want to hear people's story about their life and they have a business, more than likely those intertwined in a very important way, and so sure I want to hear about the business, but I'm more interested in hearing about that person's life.

Bill Rinetti: 2:58

Well, I mean that's, that's that's me, Once you, once we get into this, Okay.

Ricky B: 3:02

Yeah, Well, let's jump into it. So well, today I am with Bill, is it Renetti?

Bill Rinetti: 3:09

Yeah, Bill Renetti.

Ricky B: 3:10

Bill Renetti. Bill Renetti, are you the, would you the owner operator of? I'm the owner. Owner okay, of Massimos.

Bill Rinetti: 3:17

Massimos restaurant Awesome.

Ricky B: 3:19

And we are sitting in your office in connected to the restaurant, correct, yeah. So I want to get a little, get to know a little bit about you. What, how long have you been the owner and what is the story behind you being the owner? The current owner of Massimos.

Bill Rinetti: 3:38

In. So in 1976, my, my father, my late father, found the restaurant, founded this restaurant and that was it was his lifelong passion to be a restaurateur. He loved the cook and loved to entertain and and so he worked for his father prior to that. And his father had a gas station in East Oakland and it was a very successful gas station big, big, big gas station they had. They repaired cars and they also had to use car lot and but that the area was slowly, slowly deteriorating and it was time to sell. That was his father that was your grandfather.

Ricky B: 4:18

Yeah, my grandfather.

Bill Rinetti: 4:19

So my dad kind of followed in his dad's footsteps and it really wasn't what he wanted and my dad had. There was we have four children and my dad, and and why? While he was working for his father, he also was moonlighting at night working in restaurants. He worked as a bartender, he started doing some catering and he really liked it and that was his passion. And then his his father was going to retire and sell the business. So the timing came, so my dad anyway. So long as my dad bought the business, he had a partner, and a partner lasted a year and then my dad bought him out.

Ricky B: 4:52

So this was this was he went. This was your grandfather going from.

Bill Rinetti: 4:56

No, no, no, my grandfather, no, my grandfather sold his business and retired oh just retired, okay, and then and then my dad. At that point my dad bought this business, okay, and he had a partner for the first year and then, after the first year, my dad bought the partner out Okay, so this was an existing business before your dad bought it. Yes, this was a restaurant. This was a restaurant. Kind of a little history about this place. Years ago there was a restaurant in Fremont. The international kitchen was called.

Bill Rinetti: 5:25

It was like it was like it was like it was like a really cool restaurant way back in the 60s, 50s and 60s. It was up kind of like past the Bartrax. Okay, up off of Maori, we're Maori in Peralta kind of intersect.

Bill Rinetti: 5:38

And in those days it was like where everybody in Fremont went to eat and then they had a fire and it burned down and the owners were looking for a place to relocate. And this shopping center, which was founded by a gentleman by the name of Jack Stevenson, who Stevenson Boulevard is named after, and also years ago this property used to be was an airport. I mean, there's a lot of history in this.

Bill Rinetti: 6:02

There was an airport right here. This whole property from Maori to Stevenson and Blake out to the freeway was an airport. So Stevenson's bought this many years ago and they farmed or whatever. So long story short. So these guys, they needed to replace a restaurant.

Bill Rinetti: 6:20

So they opened up a restaurant here and it was a German restaurant and it was called the Lorelei and they had it, for there was two guys and they had it for like three years and they decided they don't want to do it anymore. And that's when my dad my dad found it Actually there was a union rep that found it found it and told the then partner that my dad had about it.

Ricky B: 6:45

And then, anyway, lunchtime, so I'm curious too real quick, what brought your dad from Oakland to Fremont?

Bill Rinetti: 6:52

Well, what happened was is my dad had, when he had worked part-time, he met there was a gentleman owned a restaurant in Oakland, in the Diamond District, which is off of like Fruitvale area, and this guy had retired. And this guy got approached by these, like I said, these union guys that knew about this restaurant here for sale. So they approached them and they said, hey, you know, you know, anybody wants to buy a restaurant in Fremont. Well, and he got, and this guy, his name was Mario, mario goes. Well, I have a, I have a good friend of mine who wants to open a restaurant and let me talk to him. And so he talked to my dad and then they, they made an agreement to the partnership and they, they bought the restaurant together. Wow, and Mario was much older than my dad, and so my dad felt it was better to the, the, the, get Mario out and have my dad run it so so my dad took it over and it was funny cause we got the keys.

Bill Rinetti: 7:47

I never forget the day we got the keys on, on Halloween 1976. And it was on a Sunday and the night before the 30th it was the last night of the other of the other owners and we walked in this place and was kind of messed up. So we had to come in here and kind of cleaned it up and I was. I was a freshman in high school and so I basically came behind here that Sunday and we we spent the whole day here cleaning this place getting it ready to open, open.

Ricky B: 8:13

And then on that Monday, which was November 1st, my dad they opened up, oh my goodness, so it was a German restaurant, german restaurant. They closed down, didn't clean up afterwards.

Bill Rinetti: 8:23

Well, I mean they, they they cleaned up, but they you know the kitchen was kind of messed up and we had to go in there and kind of straighten stuff up, but then you opened up Monday morning, monday morning, and we left all the decor the same.

Bill Rinetti: 8:34

At first, I think the sign might've even been their sign initially, and then we, then we eventually got our own sign, but we had all their decor. I mean, it was like you walked in and there was like these swords on the walls, you know, like there was swords and you know, and it was definitely you know, it had a German, and these chandeliers were very, you know.

Bill Rinetti: 8:54

German and everything and it was dark and kind of old school. But the thing that kind of saved us, and for many years, was this was actually two businesses in one. It was a neighborhood bar and a restaurant. And when you walked in we've done a lot of modeling over the years, but when you walked in, originally, the door going into the bar there was a door on the far both side. When you walked into the bar and when you walked into the restaurant you had to kind of walk down a little corridor and then turn right into the restaurant. So it was almost like there were two separate places. And the bar was, like I said, it was a neighborhood bar and everybody in there, a lot of people who hung out there, never ate there, they just drank there. And it was a very interesting bar. It had above the bar, it had these like chicken wire and it had these hooks and there was bottles, all these empty wine bottles hanging from the bar. It was kind of cool, except when we had the earthquake in 89 and the bartender ran like crazy because all the bottles started shaking, pretty crazy. But no, but it was unique.

Bill Rinetti: 10:01

So for years, I mean, and then the guys used to hang out. There were like FAA, which is not too on Central Avenue. All the FAA guys they get off work, they come in the bar. There used to be a place here which is now Luckies, but years ago it was a department store called Jimco and the guys that and they had a grocery department in there and the grocery guys they were stalkers and they would stalk all night and they get off like seven in the morning and then we'd open the bar early and these guys come in and they'd be drinking like seven o'clock in the morning, here, early in the morning, and that was like there after work, you know, and I show up here like at 10 o'clock and these guys already be hammered to be kind of funny. You know, you know it was kind of a trip, wow. So anyways, that's kind of how it started.

Ricky B: 10:47

So you had two businesses operating at once.

Bill Rinetti: 10:50

It still won. But what saved us in early years of the business was and as we were growing, the business is we had a solid bar and the bar, the revenue that the bar made generated, paid the rent paid the bills and then, like when we first opened up, we were open for lunch and dinner.

Bill Rinetti: 11:11

I believe we were open seven days a week and in those days our lunch business when we did lunch, we only served lunch in the bar area at lunch and we only had like maybe eight tables in there. And then as time went on, we started using the rest of the restaurant and also the restaurant was smaller. When we first had the restaurant our restaurant was about a third of the size that it is now and then we've added on twice since then, so, and so you know, that's kind of how it started.

Bill Rinetti: 11:42

And so we started, you know, just you know, doing lunches and then we started doing dinners. You know we had dinners and then we had a little. We had a small party room so we started doing parties. We had some family parties. I remember we had some family parties there and stuff. I remember we brought in music. We had a piano player that would come play here on weekends and in the bar.

Ricky B: 12:02

Well, let me ask you this so, Massimo's, where did the name come from? And then was that the? Was that name and kind of the concept behind the restaurant already developed when you guys took over, or did it kind of like, take on a life of its own? Where did what was the intention of, of, of what did you want the restaurant to be like? Or your dad want the restaurant to be like when he first took over?

Bill Rinetti: 12:27

So the funny thing is is, in today's world, whenever you do any type of business, you, you, you, you do a plan.

Ricky B: 12:34

Right, a business plan, or whatever A business plan.

Bill Rinetti: 12:36

And you and you do a lot of stuff. Well, that's not how it was when we did it. It was like my dad was the king of the seat of a seat of your pants. He would. He just, you know, I and no, my dad, my dad wasn't a planner, but he was fortunate. But in those days, you know, he just we just opened up and we really, I mean, they had an idea, they had a menu. It was a unique menu. It really wasn't a real Italian menu. There was a few Italian dishes on it. It was a very unique menu.

Ricky B: 13:03

But he specifically wanted to have an Italian like yeah, yeah, a heritage restaurant.

Bill Rinetti: 13:09

But but at the time he wasn't really at the time we didn't know what we were. I mean, it was it was funny because we were. He knew we wanted to have a restaurant. We, like I said we we did have some Italian things on there, but a lot of things weren't Italian. We had some unique dishes on there.

Bill Rinetti: 13:24

I'll give you an example there was one dish which is one of my favorite dishes we've always had. We don't have it on our menu now, but we can make it. We called it chicken avocado. It was a chicken breast that we that. We had a like a tomato cumin sauce on the bottom and then we had, and we had a guacamole on top and we had tomato and then melted jack cheese and that was one of our signature dishes way back in the day. We also had abalone on our menu back then and abalone in those days was very inexpensive and it was. It was like you know, everybody was eating abalone because it was unexpected Today.

Bill Rinetti: 13:53

It's very expensive and it's and it's also hard to get and you know, we had lobster on our menu and things like that and we had some meats. We didn't have a lot of pasta. We had a couple of pasta dishes but they weren't like your like. We did like. We did Like we did not have lasagna on our menu. We didn't.

Bill Rinetti: 14:07

we did not have, um, you know, spaghetti, meatballs and stuff like that. We had, more or less like we had a couple of signature pasta dishes, Like one we still have on our menu today, a crab and spaghetti dish. Cause our chef that we hired first chef. He came from a sort of a seafood background, so we kind of had that on our menu. Okay.

Bill Rinetti: 14:24

So we, we sort of we sort of started, just like I said, with no real game plan and we just kind of built the business you kind of knew what you did well or the things that you thought would go well, and you just did those things.

Ricky B: 14:38

We'll be right back. You can hear the rest of this conversation in just a moment. Recently, my family was trying to figure out what we were going to do for dinner. We wanted a place where we were going to be served good food, we were going to be treated well and we wanted a good atmosphere. So we decided to go to Billy Roy's burgers. Not only does Billy Roy's have the best burgers in town, but they've also got great salads, They've got great sandwiches and they've got great desserts. The service was efficient and friendly and, to top it all off, it's the beginning of football season and Billy Roy's has more than adequate screens to watch your game. At Billy Roy's, you won't miss a play. If you're looking for a place to enjoy good food and good service, I recommend Billy Roy's burgers on Thornton Avenue.

Ricky B: 15:28

I want to tell you about Milk and Honey Cafe. They're a family-owned restaurant located on Fremont Boulevard in North Fremont. They serve fresh noodles, stir fries, bentos soup, vegetarian dishes, boba drinks and so much more. And for Fremont podcast listeners, if you make a purchase of $50 or more, you get a complimentary Thai tea or a fruit tea with your purchase. You can find out how to dine in or order at MilkandHoneyFremontcom For more information and links. Be sure to check out our show notes If you want to hear more of their story. Check out episode 8 on the Fremont podcast. And now back to our conversation.

Bill Rinetti: 16:11

Let me quickly tell you how I got my involvement with. So I was a freshman high school when my dad started, and the first month or so I didn't work at all and then so we took over the restaurant in November.

Ricky B: 16:27

It was nice that your dad gave you a month break.

Bill Rinetti: 16:29

Well, I mean, I was in school.

Ricky B: 16:31

Right, right right.

Bill Rinetti: 16:32

We lived in Oakland. So what I have to do is I went to a school in Oakland and my grandfather would pick me up from school, because my grandparents live near us. They would take me to the San Leandro Bart station and then I'd take Bart out here from San Leandro, get off of the Fremont station, then I jump on the bus and I take the bus and the bus will drop me off in front of Denny's and that's how I came to work.

Ricky B: 16:55

This was in 1977?

Bill Rinetti: 16:56

Yeah, like 77, 78 or something like that and I went to a really good school. I went to a Catholic high school in Oakland. I went to Bishop of Doud, which I'm very proud that they've gone there I wanted.

Bill Rinetti: 17:07

My dream was I wanted to become like an engineer or an architect or something like that, because I've always loved to build things. So I couldn't get into like Cal Poly and any of those schools. So I got accepted at the Hayward State and I also got accepted to. So I was gonna go to Chabot for a while and I went to Chabot to register for my classes and I just didn't have a good feeling about Chabot.

Bill Rinetti: 17:29

I just didn't feel. Going from a Doud to Chabot I felt was like a step down to me, because the Doud was such a great college prep school. I mean, like I said, chabot was probably a great school and all that. I came here and my dad says hey, well, you know, you can always work for me, so that's kind of so. That was like the turning point.

Ricky B: 17:49

Did you not go to college? Or you did good school, no, no, no. So what I?

Bill Rinetti: 17:51

did it. So what I did was I, instead of going to the Chabot, I enrolled in Cal State, hayward. Okay, gotcha and I. From that point, from that day forward, my focus was to come in the business with my dad. So all during college I basically worked here a lot, because now I had a car and I was living in Oakland and I basically would drive from Oakland to Hayward, go to school, then after school I'd come here and work. And I worked. All through college I said it took me five years to graduate, so I took an extra year, took less classes so I can work more, focus more on this.

Ricky B: 18:24

Yeah, did you have. Did you have? You said that you were interested in building architecture. Is that what you eventually studied, or did you study something more along the lines of the business?

Bill Rinetti: 18:33

No, no, no. So when I went to Hayward I focused on business, so I was a business student when I graduated in 85, that's when I basically just dove head into the business and I basically my dad never really gave me any position. The only position he ever gave me in the company was a busser. Everything else I just kinda just like either took it over or did it.

Ricky B: 18:57

So you basically had to earn your place Well.

Bill Rinetti: 19:00

I just sort of yeah, I went to earn it, I just did it. So I basically I became a server, I think when I was 18, he let me become a server and then after that I became like a manager and then after that I started doing all the buying. I started buying all the liquor, I was making the wine list, I was making the menus. I eventually I brought it in computers. I mean, I basically did everything. And my dad, like I said, my dad was my dad. Just his old deal was he loved to cook and he loved to attend bar and he loved to hang out with his friends, but he wasn't really that business guy.

Bill Rinetti: 19:32

Gotcha and that's where I, that's where I excelled and that's where I really flourished in that and I kinda took over the business part and I ran the business. Then I lost my dad in 2002. Okay, and so I basically, even when my dad was alive, I've been actually running. I can say I've been running this business since 1985.

Ricky B: 19:54

Wow, I think that the story of you and your, of you following in your dad's footsteps, are him starting the business, kind of creating the cultural environment of the business, hanging out with his friends, the food that's being prepared and all that stuff. It's just really cool. And then for you to really I don't wanna say buy into it, but you really see what's happening here and then following in that footsteps by championing the business side of things is really cool. Have you enjoyed? Do you enjoy, some of the other elements like cooking and some of the creation of the dishes and other parts of the business?

Bill Rinetti: 20:36

Well, when I said earlier about building, I love to build and I think that I built something different, though I set up building a home or something. I built the business. And I not only built the business, I built the environment. I was very influential in 1991, 92, we did a major renovation of our restaurant. We made our bar bigger, we put a new door in, we moved some doors around and stuff and put some windows in.

Bill Rinetti: 21:04

And I've always had this vision and every time we've had any type of change and like a few years ago we had a flood and I was very my vision of changing it and I mean we've taken this little hole in the wall shopping center space that we've had for 47 years and I mean we've made it into this beautiful restaurant. But it's all because I was determined to keep it going and I'm always trying to make it better.

Bill Rinetti: 21:37

I'm always like when we're always painting and we're always getting our carpets clean and we're always there's something I can improve, I'll do it. I'm always trying to fix, make things better.

Ricky B: 21:48

That's great.

Bill Rinetti: 21:49

I just bought some new. Two months ago, I bought a new piece of equipment in my kitchen. I bought something I wanted to buy for a long time. I bought a steakhouse burriller, which is pretty good. So let me back up a little bit. You asked me earlier about the word how we got the name.

Ricky B: 22:04

Yeah, massimos right, so yeah it's actually.

Bill Rinetti: 22:07

Initially I didn't know this story of it. I just knew it was my great grandfather's first name and it was my dad's middle name. Huh okay.

Bill Rinetti: 22:16

So my dad was born in 1937, I believe, and in those days you it was looked, his mom and dad were both born in California. Okay, His grandparents were born in Italy, but in those days, if you didn't have a common name, like John, fred, william, whatever you were looked down upon, it was tradition in Italian family that the first born son would take the paternal father's grandfather's first name and the maternal grandfather's middle name.

Ricky B: 22:58

Oh, interesting.

Bill Rinetti: 22:58

So my grandmother felt if you call him Massimo in those days he might get. When he got into school kids might make fun of him because he's got a weird funny name. They named him William after his father.

Ricky B: 23:11

Okay.

Bill Rinetti: 23:12

His name was William and then he took his grandfather's middle name, so his name was William Massimo Renetti. So my uncle told me this story that and basically Massimo was born in Italy, in the northern part of Italy, and in those days in early 1900s, him and his brothers got on the ship and they came to the United States and never to see their parents again, which is kind of sad, I mean. Here they are, you know, like teenagers, and they get on a ship and they're never gonna go home and see their parents again. And that's how they had to do it, because they were struggling.

Bill Rinetti: 23:51

We first, for years we had kind of had a revolving door of like chefs and cooks and stuff, and then finally I forget it was in the early 80s my dad got approached by this guy that we knew and he says are you looking for a chef? And my dad goes yeah, he goes, well, I got the guy for you. And so he set this guy and the ironic thing was he lived like right down the street, yet he was working in the peninsula and originally this guy worked in San Francisco and he was a really good chef and his name is well, he's still alive. His name is Jose Luis and he was trained by one of the best chefs in San Francisco back in the day and this guy was like the Wolfgang puck of San Francisco back in the 60s and 70s and the guy was named was Roger Bertola and he was a famous chef in San Francisco involved in a bunch of restaurants. His most signature restaurant was a restaurant called Doros Incredible. I went there once. It was incredible.

Bill Rinetti: 24:59

Just one of these restaurants. That was like they had lace tablecloths but lace on top and they had their own ashtrays with their logos on them and crystal chandeliers and it was a beautiful place. I mean, it was a place that you would go on a very, very special occasion, or something like that. So that was the turning point for us, and then that's when our focus was we were gonna bring an, a San Francisco style restaurant, to Fremont.

Gary Williams: 25:30

That was our plan and we did.

Bill Rinetti: 25:32

And Louis. His name was Jose Luis, but I call him Louis. Louis cooked that way and he was great. His food was phenomenal.

Bill Rinetti: 25:41

And he was our chef for 25 years and, like I said, he lived right down the street and he just brought in a culture that really changed us and it really put us on the map. There was an article one day on the front page and some somebody said that there's no restaurants in Fremont and there was a picture of my dad and the chef on the front page of the paper saying yes, there is a restaurant in Fremont. Louis retired here from here probably. He stayed till about 2000. Seven, eight or something like that, and then he retired and then we've kept it going. But the area's changed a lot over the years, for sure, for sure.

Bill Rinetti: 26:25

So I mean, and we've lost a lot, unfortunately, we lost a lot of our customers. They've a lot of them are no longer with us because they were a certain age group that is no longer with us and so we lost a lot of them. And then a lot of people have moved away. We've had a lot of customers that moved out of the area.

Ricky B: 26:42

I'm gonna bring up like a little semantics point that I think I've said before. When you go to a place that has a sign on the door that says restroom for customers only, I joke because I've talked to people and I said what makes a customer? Is a customer somebody who buys something on that day, in that moment? Or is a customer somebody who has been regular, a regular over time, because I've gone to places where I've like I wanna use a bathroom but I don't need to buy anything right now, but I've been here, you know I come here every week or I you know whatever.

Ricky B: 27:19

But my point is is that you're referring to customers in your statement as your customers have moved away or passed away. And I love the fact that you view your customers as not the ones who just show up today and buy the food today, but you view customers as people who you see regularly that have been here over long periods of time. They're people who've basically you've become a part of their life over long periods of time and they've become a part of your life over long periods of time. So I love the fact that you're referring to customers in not just in a moment, but in kind of like the longevity of a lifetime, I guess.

Bill Rinetti: 28:00

That is. That is so. That is. You hit the nail in the head. We have developed so many relationships with people and all our closest friends today are people that we have met here. That they are, you know, people that my wife I mean my wife I met my wife here. She was a customer. I met my. I had a friend unfortunately he's not longer with us, but he was. This guy came in here. He was young, he was in the trucking business and he was young at the time and he was just getting his feet wet in the trucking business and you know he loved to, he loved to have a few cocktails and he loved to like mix with different people and so he started coming in here and he became one of our closest friends, and I mean very close.

Bill Rinetti: 28:55

I mean we, we went to his. He moved away to Arizona and we went to his, we went to his home and I mean he became like a brother. Fremont Bank the.

Bill Rinetti: 29:04

Fremont Bank story. We first came to Fremont. We first came here, we banked, we had a bank relationship with Bank of America because that's. But then the Fremont Bank started coming in and we met and then we developed. My dad developed a relationship with Moore Simon, who was the founder of Fremont Bank, and then Mike Wallace, who's now chairman of the board, and we developed this relationship and they I mean they're part of our family. I mean they've I've dropped my dad. You know my dad's traveled. We traveled with these guys.

Bill Rinetti: 29:35

I mean they have home, they invite us to their homes and they have homes other places and they've taken us to their homes and you know we're apart, so I mean my customers, and the hardest thing for me, though, today is the fact that a lot of my customers are older, and it's sad because probably one of the greatest and I'm gonna get emotional when I say this but I had a customer. I had a customer when I was waiting tables and they would come in. It was a couple. They lived here in Fremont and they were in the construction business and they had a really good job and a really big construction company. They were on a project manager, some of the construction company and they used to come in for dinner every Friday night and have dinner here, and they always dressed up really nice and they always came in and I knew what she drank, I knew what he drank. When he walked in, I put his cocktail on the table and she had her cocktail and then they had a glass of wine and they always had nice dinner and blah, blah, blah, and then, as years went by, they would still come in. They didn't come in as often. They'd always come in. They used to come in on New Year's Eve, then they would come in on their birthdays and they come in on their birthdays, and we got to be really close and I got to be close to them, really close.

Bill Rinetti: 30:45

So a few months ago, the wife sent me an email that her husband died, oh my. And what blew me away is they didn't call Massimos, they called it Billy's Place, aw, and which made me feel I mean, they didn't come here, they didn't go to Massimos, they go. What are we doing tonight? Her name was Barbara and his name was Roy. Where do you want to go tonight, roy? We're going to go to Billy's Place for dinner, so that means that man.

Bill Rinetti: 31:19

So that's just one story, and there's hundreds of other stories like that. I mean hundreds. I mean we've had I mean God so many people and families and generations. I mean generations of people and and so it's been a great. I mean it's been a great ride. But the sad part now is Lyle's people are moving away or passing on, and it's We'll be right back with this conversation in just a moment.

Ricky B: 31:44

Jennifer at Petracelli Homes and Niles treats everyone who walks through her door like family, always looking out for their best interests. When I'm trying to make a big decision in my life, I turn to family. When you choose Petracelli Homes to help you buy or sell your home, you're choosing family. Contact Jennifer Petracelli today and see for yourself why she's the right choice for your real estate needs. The Eloni College flea market would like you to be a vendor.

Andrew C: 32:14

We talked to some of the vendors who were there last month and this is what they had to say Are you planning on coming back here? Yes, awesome, at least one more month that I was able to get a deal for two months in a row.

Speaker 5: 32:29

I hear there's also a six month deal and, depending on how this and the next month go, I will definitely look into that. I'm sure you'll be able to see that, but if you want to get a deal for a month go, I will definitely look into that Awesome Prior to being here have you sold other flea markets? I have not. This is my first. Wow, yeah, welcome aboard.

Speaker 7: 32:48

Thank you, I'm okay about you, I'm good, everything's okay, everything's fantastic. How is it going today?

Andrew C: 32:58

How was the? Sale of everybody good? Yeah, I think so People seem happy.

Speaker 7: 33:03

Yeah, everybody happy. The manager, the lady is very nice. I got the emergency, she said no problem, we keep it for her. The people nice, the people working here, everybody's nice. I'm happy with the guys.

Andrew C: 33:16

Awesome, yeah, thank you. So what kind of food vendors are?

Speaker 6: 33:20

you looking for Van. So we've been providing coffee and bakery for the people here, but we would love to give that business to a vendor that can provide baked goods and especially coffee.

Andrew C: 33:31

And what is the phone number and what is the website?

Speaker 6: 33:34

The phone number is 510-659-6285 and the website is wwwaloneeducom. Slash flea-market.

Andrew C: 33:46

The Aloni College flea market is happening every second Saturday of the month from 9 am to 3 pm on Aloni's Fremont campus.

Ricky B: 33:56

And now back to our conversation. Yeah, I was going to say it seems to me that you're part of the fabric of the community in a huge way, but even more so I think what you are talking about, as far as the community that you have experienced here at the restaurant and that you've had for so many years, is what makes a community a community the interaction with people, the investing in each other's lives, the interest of what is going on in the home life or on the job or whatever. A lot of those conversations only take place in a place like Massimo or Bill's place, right.

Bill Rinetti: 34:46

Well, we've had a lot of. I mean, I had a sign that I had it in the restaurant. As soon as you walked in the restaurant I wrote a little sign in.

Ricky B: 34:57

Okay.

Bill Rinetti: 34:58

And you just said welcome and I said this is not a restaurant. It's not a restaurant, it's a special place. This is a special place. There's been so many memories. I mean people have had so many memories in this restaurant. They've had celebrations of life, they've had birthdays, anniversaries, they've had, you know, first dates, they've had proposals here, we've had, you know, business meetings, we've had, you know just, it goes on and on. There's so many. I mean, we used to have a group of people that used to live here and they would hang out here every day.

Bill Rinetti: 35:35

A little side note, and this is a great story. So my grandfather worked as an inter-gassation for his whole life. He wasn't really a big people person and he sold the business and he retired. My dad had him come and help here. So initially he came down and he helped my dad. So then he started 10 and bar and my grandfather would 10 bar on Saturdays and Sundays during the day and it to him it was the greatest thing in the world. He loved it. He was now and he just, I mean he wasn't.

Bill Rinetti: 36:08

I mean, I mean the drinks were easy. You know they weren't. They weren't, they weren't special, but he loved it. He was talking to people, he got to hang out with people and my grandfather did it to his to his late nineties Wow, I mean eighties, excuse me, wow, late eighties. And he looked forward all week long to come here on Saturday and bartend and he had a following and these people would come every Saturday religiously and hang out with them. That's cool, and these people could have been sitting home playing golf, whatever, but they came to Massimo's on Saturday to hang out with Bill Renetti Sr and drink because it was such a great place.

Ricky B: 36:44

Well, I think that that's something that is missing, not just in our community, but all over the place. I don't think I don't think we do that anymore. I think we, I think we aren't really invested in community the way that we used to be, and I do think that that's something that is important for us as a city and as a community that we remember the relationships that we have with people. I'm I'm curious, as, let's just say, there's people listening to the podcast that have never been here. Maybe they've never even heard of Massimo's before. What are some of the things that now, as a restaurant that you are doing that are you're proud of, or things that you hope that you help, that you would want the community to experience people that come in? Maybe it's a dish or dishes that you make, or an experience. What are some of the things? I mean? You said you just bought a brand new or something you've been wanting to buy for a long time.

Bill Rinetti: 37:39

Yeah, I just bought a brand new steak brother. It's a brother that cooks, takes up like it's close to a thousand degrees.

Ricky B: 37:43

Wow.

Bill Rinetti: 37:45

It's what all the best steak houses in the country use.

Bill Rinetti: 37:47

One of the things I wanted, I want to do is what I want is I want you can. You can go out and eat. You can go eat anywhere. If you're hungry, you can go eat. There's so many choices to go eat. Well, but I don't want to.

Bill Rinetti: 38:02

When you come to Massimo's, you don't come to eat, you come to dine. There's a difference between eating and dining. Dining is where you take your time. It's where you, you come in and you sit at a nice table. We got tablecloths on the table now. We try to keep the lights at a nice, comfortable level. We have nice music playing and we want you to come in and enjoy. We don't want you to come in and be feel rushed. We want you to come in and enjoy. We try to have, we try to have a nice menu. We try to keep it contemporary, but we also have some classic stuff on the menu. We have by and by, by and by brother. Now we we have, we do filets, we do New Yorks, we do rib eyes. We also have a lot of fresh seafood. We also know that there's, you know there's a lot of vegetarians in town. So we do have some, we do have some vegetarian options. We we're adding some vegan options to our menu, so we want to be that.

Bill Rinetti: 38:55

I'm, I'm. I'm the person that's always trying to prove I on Instagram, I follow chefs all of the country. In fact, I just found this one chef that owns a restaurant in Connecticut and, oh my God, it's looks. I'm going to plan and go there tomorrow. His food looks amazing and I get ideas. I'm always getting ideas. I'm always reading. I recently really invested into my bar. I have a young bartender works for me Right now. He's only working Saturday nights when he's on the floor, but he's here other nights. He is a mixologist. He makes incredible drinks, so people want to come down and have a great cocktail and and he'll make it for you. What's great about him is you walk into the, you know we have a cocktail menu, but you walk in and you say make me something special. Who make you a drink you never had before? It'd be incredible Wow.

Bill Rinetti: 39:41

He's very talented down kid. He was trained in LA at a really cool bar down there, you know. Unfortunately, COVID took took a hit on us financially we you know, but if, but as as money comes in and we're always. I'm always spending, I'm always buying things. I'm always improving things. I mean, at some point I want to buy new China at some point, but it's something I can't afford right now.

Ricky B: 40:02

Sure.

Bill Rinetti: 40:03

I want to buy new banquet chairs from my restaurant, um, but, like I said, I can't afford right now, but eventually, you know. But I'm I. Some people just sit there and go. Okay, I'm con, I'm content, I'm happy, let's just keep it going.

Ricky B: 40:15

It's worked for me for so long. We're going to keep it the same way yeah.

Bill Rinetti: 40:19

But I just I, I feel, I personally feel that we can be better.

Ricky B: 40:22

Yeah.

Bill Rinetti: 40:22

And I know it can be better. I think just, I think there's areas that we can improve upon and I'm I'm improving.

Ricky B: 40:27

So if there's people also interested in um uh, having their events birthday parties, birthday anniversaries do you? Are you guys still providing space to be able to do that?

Bill Rinetti: 40:36

Yes, yes, we, that's our, that's what separates us from every restaurant in town. Okay, there's only, there's only a couple of restaurants in town. The independence that offer what we offer.

Ricky B: 40:45

Okay.

Bill Rinetti: 40:47

And we and we have five private banquet rooms. So we, we are.

Ricky B: 40:49

You have five private banquet rooms, five private rooms.

Bill Rinetti: 40:54

We have one room that holds 12. We have another room that holds up to 20. Another room that holds up. We have two more rooms that hold 30 and then we have, um, uh, then we have four rooms that open up into one big room. Okay.

Bill Rinetti: 41:09

We also have one room. That I mean we have ways to move, to make room to move things around so that you have space, yeah. So I have I have walls that move, so we have a lot of flexibility. Plus we have our patio and we could do 60 people on the patio. Wow.

Bill Rinetti: 41:22

So we wanted to have an outdoor party, or if they want to have a, especially this time year, they want to have a, they want to do an outdoor event, we can do it on patio. So we, we have, we have it. And then, and then we've also, we've only done it well, we've, well, we still once a year for this insurance company, um, but we do, we do a buyout. I mean, I had a comp but, uh, years ago I had a company that bought out the whole restaurant, and I would, I would do that too.

Bill Rinetti: 41:43

You know if they wanted to buy out the whole. If they needed, like you know, space for a couple hundred people, we could do that.

Ricky B: 41:48

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, that's good to know. Um, I'm going to. I'm going to, uh, show my cards. I actually, um, didn't know about your restaurant. I've lived here for nine years. I didn't know about your restaurant until about maybe a year, a year and a half ago, and somebody sent me a video of a couple of girls who grew up here in in Fremont who had their own band. Uh, they were musicians and they were doing live music here and some somebody uh, audio blonde.

Gary Williams: 42:19

Yeah, it's exactly right yeah.

Ricky B: 42:22

So they they were doing, um, they were doing music here and someone sent me a video and said you should have them on the podcast, which we did. So, uh, audio blonde was on the podcast last year, um, but uh, that was the first time I'd ever heard of massive moves. I didn't know what it was, and then, since then, I've been following at a distance and just trying to figure out what it is. And then when I um heard that we should have you on the podcast, I jumped on that.

Bill Rinetti: 42:46

So that's our biggest challenge. I think a lot of people don't know we're here.

Ricky B: 42:49

Right.

Bill Rinetti: 42:50

I mean we're kind of hidden. Our, our location is not. It's kind of hidden a little bit. Our signage is old, it's not the greatest signage, so, but you know this town has changed. I mean there's I drive down, I drive down Maori or the big streets, and there's there's homes being built everywhere, everywhere.

Ricky B: 43:04

Yeah, and.

Bill Rinetti: 43:05

I don't think people know that we exist, and that's why I want to add new things, because there's a new demographic coming into your town. They want things that they don't want. What we did 20 years, they want sure what? What we can do today. Yeah.

Bill Rinetti: 43:18

So, and I mean like, like we have music now, we're trying new music. We're going to try new music, um, on weekends, until the outside of the patio, until the weather changes. That's great. And we, we, we wanted to launch a different, like a separate menu for the bar. So people just want to have cocktails and have some, have some appetites, some nice heavy appetizers. We're we're kind of working on that. We haven't, we haven't launched that yet. Um, you know, we, we're going to fine tune our menus. I'm always trying to improve my wine lists and you know I listen to customers. I have a customer comes in and he goes you know I love your restaurant and he goes how come you don't have have any Amarone on your menu? He goes, I love Amarone. I said, well, I go, well, I have it now. I just bought a case. It's coming tomorrow. So I I know this customer, I know well.

Bill Rinetti: 44:00

but I'll call him up and say hey Roger.

Ricky B: 44:02

I got.

Bill Rinetti: 44:03

Amarone and I'm sure he'll be in for dinner.

Ricky B: 44:05

There you go.

Gary Williams: 44:06

I listen to my customers.

Bill Rinetti: 44:07

I listen to my customers. I I you know I nobody likes Yelp, but when a customer goes in Yelp and they rip us up, for whatever reason, I I read those articles and I read them and I, where I can fix, I fix. Where I can't fix, I can't fix. Sometimes people just vent their frustration.

Andrew C: 44:26

Yeah.

Bill Rinetti: 44:26

There's nothing to do about it. But if they say something that has some constructive criticism in there and if it's something I can fix, I will fix it.

Ricky B: 44:32

You want to learn from it. Exactly that you want to learn from it. That's great.

Bill Rinetti: 44:37

I'm a person that and I I have, I have, I have coaches, I have a business coach. I. I meet once a week with a business coach on on on line.

Ricky B: 44:45

Wow, that's awesome.

Bill Rinetti: 44:46

He's out of New York city. I I have. I've had men, I've had coaches. I, I yeah. I believe that I can learn more.

Ricky B: 44:54

Yeah, that's great.

Bill Rinetti: 44:54

So I'm always learning.

Ricky B: 44:56

I love that. So a question for you. We're going to wrap it up here in a second, but I've asked this to a number of people that I've interviewed. Let's say, 10 years, 15 years from now, when people look back at your restaurant here, or when, let's say, even 20 years from now, what are some of the things that you hope to leave with our community? What are some of the things that you maybe the legacy that you want to be known for in our community, and what is it that you hope to see change in our community?

Bill Rinetti: 45:27

The biggest thing that's missing in Fremont and it really showed us, it really came out during COVID it was the lack of community. I live in Pleasanton and some of these smaller cities. They all kind of got together and they all kind of worked together and all the merchants kind of banded together and they kind of helped. But Fremont's so spread out that we couldn't do that. And I think I am a director of the chamber, I am a director of the Chamber of Commerce and I try to help, but I think that we need more community in this town.

Bill Rinetti: 46:08

I would love and unfortunately we don't have a downtown, but I would wish we would have like a street fair, like maybe once a month, to get people to come and participate and get businesses to participate in a street fair. I mean, this time of year take an empty parking lot and let all the restaurants and businesses come and let people know that we're here, because a lot of people don't know about all these little whole-in-the-wall places that are in town. I mean we did the Fremont Festival of the Arts but the weather was so hot and it's so big and so spread out.

Ricky B: 46:42

Yeah, and most of the customers that come to that aren't from Fremont.

Bill Rinetti: 46:45

Exactly exactly. You know, I mean again, we don't have, like I said, we don't have that downtown, but we can make a makeshift downtown just by getting people together. I mean years ago, this shopping center, for example, they had a merchants association and they would have a get-together once in a while where you could just shut, we all have a big party out in the parking lot. I mean, I'm just saying that there's Fremont needs more community and we need that from everybody, and I think. And then once people realize that we're here, and then we all can feed off of each other.

Ricky B: 47:24

Well, I think that that's one of the things that I wanted to do with the Fremont podcast is that I wanted it to be a place you know, if you think about community, you can think about it in a lot of different contexts, so, like you could talk about, when you think of community, I'm sure that one of the first places your mind goes to is around a table or eating or food.

Ricky B: 47:45

I, although I enjoy food and I enjoy cooking from time to time my mind goes around the idea of conversations, because I really want to get to know somebody. I want to hear their story, I want to hear what makes them tick, I want to hear their passions, and I think for me, having a place where people can come together and share their stories and know why they're there, what brought them there I think that's one of the things that I love about hearing your story is, although I didn't know anything really about Masimos until about a year and a half ago, like as you're talking here, I'm really excited about bringing my wife here, about bringing my family here and being able to share in the experience that you laid out for me as part of what the greatest night in this, to me, the most special night is Christmas Eve, and I tell you, we were never open on Christmas Eve.

Bill Rinetti: 48:43

We were never open for years and it just so happened we had this group one night that wanted to have a party here on New Year's Eve and we said, okay, I mean it's Christmas Eve. So we said, okay, we'll open up for Christmas Eve. And I never, and I did it, and now it's one of our best nights. But what I love about Christmas Eve and I've had it is you get families, people that have kids who grew up here and now have moved away, but they come back. It's like going to church on Christmas.

Ricky B: 49:09

Yeah, nostalgia.

Bill Rinetti: 49:10

Like when you go to church on Christmas. A lot of people never. They only go to church on Christmas, in Easter or whatever. When you go to church on Christmas, especially, you go to the church that you grew up in. You see people that you haven't seen for years, but they come back to visit their parents. Whatever they're there. The same thing here happens here on Christmas Eve. All these people that we don't see all of a sudden they show up on Christmas Eve and they're here and it's just such a special.

Bill Rinetti: 49:34

it's like Thanksgiving too. Thanksgiving we're all from Thanksgiving and again the families and the people that you grew up with that they come here and it's so great when you get to see these people.

Ricky B: 49:45

I love that. That's awesome. Well, I'm excited about bringing my family here and I love hearing your story because I think that there's something that our community needs to hear. I hope that by being able to share this, that people will pay more attention to the restaurant, and I hope that the vision and the experience that you have, that you wanna bring to our community, is something that will spread, because I do think that we need I do think that what we need more of the sense of community that you have experienced in this place for so many years.

Ricky B: 50:21

There are new people coming along as well that have a very similar story already. It's in the early stages, right, but they're gonna have a story that's gonna be told decades from now as to how they came into Fremont. But I think that we've gotta pass that beton. I think we've gotta have a place like Massimos that's here, that's been established, that continues on and it continues doing what it's done for decades. And then we've gotta have other people to have a vision for the same sort of community and the same sort of magic I guess that you bring to the community and be able to carry that same thing on.

Bill Rinetti: 50:55

One thing that I tell my staff is we have. I tell my staff we use a reservation system and I tell my staff to take notes on the guest. Remember their favorite cocktail, remember what table they like to sit out, who their favorite server is when they're birthed. Get to know the guest the best you can. I have a database here of just customers that I get their names, who they are. So I wanna know it's important so many times you walk into a bar or restaurant and you're just a number, yeah, and we, our customers. I mean I have one waiter that works here that he has customers that come in and fully walk in the door. They're cocktails on, that's awesome they're cocktails on a table.

Bill Rinetti: 51:39

I mean, I have this one couple that comes here. They come here about twice a month. They don't even order. He just ordered for them. But that's just the way it is. I mean that's what we do here.

Ricky B: 51:49

That's great.

Bill Rinetti: 51:50

We wanna do the everybody.

Ricky B: 51:52

Bill, thank you so much for joining me on this. This has been great and I'm looking forward to experiencing Massimos or Billy's Place. I'm gonna start calling it Billy's Place, but I'm gonna look forward to bringing back my family and thank you for your time and sharing the story here.

Bill Rinetti: 52:08

It's been really great.

Gary Williams: 52:09

My pleasure. This episode was hosted and produced by Ricky B. I'm Gary Williams. Scheduling and pre-interviews by Sarah S. Rachel Prey is the print editor in charge of our newsletter. Additional reporting by Mark Emmons. Andrew Cavett is the editor. Music provided by soundstripecom Be sure to subscribe wherever it is that you listen, so you don't miss an episode. You can find everything we make the podcast, our newsletter and all of our social media links at thefremontpodcastcom. Join us next week on the Fremont Podcast. This is a Muggins Media podcast.