This is a First Look: It's the first time any news outlet or blog has covered this startup. You can read more First Looks here. (We do this a lot.)
The average Bostonian - paesan or not - can’t help but get a hankering for a cannoli every so often. But if you live anywhere outside a mile radius of the North End, chances are your cravings will be left unsatisfied.
Starting this spring, that will no longer be the case. A student duo at Northeastern will be making your favorite North End delicacies available in different parts of Boston with Sapori Pinocchios. The startup will be using cargo bikes - an invention specifically designed in Italy with their business in mind - to let people throughout the city get their fill of iconic North End fare.
I caught up with Daniele Bocchieri, one of the co-founders and - you guessed it - a native Italian, to get some intel on this emerging company.
Bringing the North End closer to your neighborhood
“I’m personally Italian, so as a Freshman, I was looking out for Italian food,” Bocchieri explained the inspiration behind this venture. “I had to go all the way to the North End to get an Italian taste.”
“I would look around Northeastern and notice how many food trucks there are around here,” he continued. “There are so many different kinds of street food, so why not bring Italian taste closer to where we are?”
Participating in the Husky Startup Challenge at Northeastern this year, Bocchieri and his co-founder Nikolai Romanov, put the plans for a mobile North End food market into motion. They asked restaurant and bakery owners throughout the neighborhood if they’d be interested, as well as capable, of supplying Pinocchios with goods to sell. While some businesses are still figuring out how to scale their production so they can partner with the startup, Pinocchios has already pinned down Modern Pastry as a supplier.
At the same time, the Northeastern-based company had to brainstorm the perfect vehicle to peddle the tasty pastries and other North End eats. After completing some market research, the pair discovered that some students weren’t enthused about getting these goodies from a truck. Bocchieri briefly considered using Ape Cars - these 3-wheeled, clown-car contraptions used in Italy - but they aren’t legal in the U.S. So the startup founders knew they had to take an entirely different approach from people in the past.
Inventing the perfect food vehicle
Reaching out to Business on the Road - an Italian company - the Pinocchios team worked on coming up with a brand-new breed of vehicle. The startup will be the only stateside people using a motorized bicycle with a full-on food shop in tow to bring Boston Italian street food.
“We worked with the engineering team there, and they designed this new kind of bike based on our needs,” Bocchieri told me. “We’re going to be the first to use this new technology in the U.S.”
Business on the Road has since began selling the cargo bike model inspired by Pinocchios in Europe. According to Bocchieri, it’s already been a hit, and the Italian company sold about 80 vehicles within the first month. And when Pinocchios brings the cargo bikes to the U.S., the hope is that it could spark a new trend in street food distribution.
Coming soon
Starting in early spring - or whenever our beloved New England weather allows - Pinocchios will begin making the rounds in Boston. The bikes will first make an appearance at campuses around the city, followed by popular areas like Back Bay and the Financial District. And once it’s launched, you’ll be able to track down the North End treats nearest you at any point in time.
“Our Pinocchios Food Bike will have a GPS tracking system so that customers can see through the Pinocchios App where the bike is and the menu of the day at any moment,” Bocchieri said. “Our short-term goal is to have seven bikes around strategic locations in Boston by the end of 2017.”
“We’ve decided to have a shift in the morning, where people can get coffee and pastries,” he added. “The another shift later in the day when we will have sweet and salty products, as a lunch portion.”
In addition to pastries and savory bites, Pinocchios will be doing its best to bring Italian flair to street food. The startup plans to play authentic music from the old country and create an enjoyable environment wherever you may be in Boston.
“It’s not just the food,” Bocchieri explained. “We want to deliver a real Italian experience.”
Images via Daniele Bocchieri.
