Currently we are looking for qualified staff to join the team at Sapore.
If you would like to join the team please contact us on 95349666 or email your resume to
dine@sapore.com.au The Owners
PKL Pty Ltd (Peter Coronica, Kim Coronica, Luisa Lucchesi & Greg Feck)
Luisa Lucchesi was born and bred in the hospitality industry. Luisa's father was a pastry chef in Italy before immigrating to Melbourne to join the institution that is Pellegrini. He and Luisa s mother later started their own restaurant Pieronis, where Luisa made her start. She knew from a young age that there was no other industry for her. Whilst completing her degree in Hotel Management & Marketing at RMIT, she gained invaluable experience at
Cafe e Cucina,
Sofitel and
David Jones. She then went on to complete a 1-year traineeship at
The Ramada Hotel in Palm Cove, Queensland. This led to a Restaurant Manager position at
Ferntree Resort, Cape Tribulation for the next 3 yrs, starting the restaurant from scratch. She then worked as Sales and Marketing Manager for Peter Rowland Major Events for the next 3 years before being headhunted by Stephanie Alexander to run
Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder. She held this wonderful role for nearly 5 years before Stephanie made the offer for her to purchase RHCL. This is when she made the phone call to her business partners, Peter & Kim Coronica.
Peter and Kim had also both spent their life in the industry, gaining experience in both front and back of house positions from 16 years old. They met at a leading Australian restaurant group when Kim was 19 and Peter was 23. By the time Peter was 24, he bought his own restaurant
Impact, renamed
Umago in Fitzroy, which soon became a local icon. In the meantime, Kim continued her career in Hospitality, holding senior management roles over the next 5 years. She then joined Peter at Umago whilst completing her Economics degree. This was followed by a role as a management consultant for the
Boston Consulting Group for the next 2 years. Peter and Kim then decided to sell
Umago, after 7 long years, to travel before starting a family. On their return, Kim & Peter started
Hush Hush in Camberwell. Whilst this was very successful, it didn't give them the satisfaction they were looking for, so they sold within 12 months. They spent several months searching for just the right thing when the opportunity came up to purchase
Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder with Luisa Lucchesi. They had many a discussion over many years, and many nice glasses of wine, of joining forces, but nothing had ever come of it till then.
At the same time, Florentine in Brighton was also offered to them. The two opportunities were both so exciting in their own right; it was difficult to choose. So they decided to take on both. They were hoping to arrange a couple of months between settlements, but as it panned out, both restaurants settled in the same week in February 2005. Peter took on Florentine while Luisa remained in the role as GM at Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder. Kim's 2nd child was just 5 weeks old so Kim helped Luisa run RHCL whilst undertaking the financials for the two restaurants.
By mid 2006, Kim, Peter & Luisa were ready to pursue PKL’s original plan, which was to have one restaurant each. So in October 2006, they purchased Sapore in St Kilda with Greg Feck. Luisa had employed Greg as Head Chef at RHCL the month before taking over RHCL. Greg hails from a tiny rural town called Mangakino, 45 minutes north-west of Taupo in New Zealand. Hence, Greg’s company name, Kaiataahua, which is Maori for ‘beautiful food’. This is what Greg has dedicated his life to. Before joining RHCL, Greg’s culinary life took him much further afield with time spent as Sous Chef to both Jamie Oliver and Ben O’Donoghue at Montes Private Club in Knightsbridge, London. Greg was also involved in food styling for Jamie’s books, filming and cooking for special events. He later headed up the kitchen at the award-winning Bach Restaurant in New Zealand. Greg loves cooking to the rhythm of nature, sourcing his produce with care, keeping it simple and allowing the food to speak for itself.
Luisa and Greg went to St Kilda to run Sapore, Peter continued to run Florentine and Kim took on the GM role at RHCL.
The TeamSimon MossHead Chef
Simon began his cooking career at 17 and has spent the last 14 years dedicating his life to this. He gained much of his knowledge and experience at
One Tree Grill in New Zealand, voted
Auckland's Best Restaurant by Matthew Evans, ex Sydney Morning Herald, 2003. He then spent the next 2 years in New Zealand's busiest A La Carte restaurant as Chef de Cuisine of
Orbit, Sky City. He was then headhunted to be Head Chef at
Wild Fire in Sydney. Whilst a great experience, Simon was still not getting the inspiration he needed and moved to Melbourne to find that passion once again.
Simon's cooking is inventive and adventurous whilst remaining true to classic flavours and tastes. He loves cooking French and Italian Food.
Simon has now introduced many of his own dishes to sapore's Winter menu, come in and join us.
David WickwarRestaurant Manager
With over 10 years experience in the industry, David made his start in Spain. He then moved to Australia to manage a bar in Leichardt, Sydney. This led to various front of house roles in Melbourne, including stints at
Scusa Mi and
Chinois. He was also Bar Manager at
Cervo for 3 years.
David then returned to London to head up the bar at
Henry's of Piccadilly for 2 years. Returning to Melbourne in 2004, David's passion for Italian was re-ignited at
Cafe di Stasio and this passion continues to develop in his role as Restaurant Manager at Sapore.
Jeff SimpsonSous Chef
Jeff started his career working in kitchens back home in New Zealand,Taupo. He then came to Melbourne and worked at
Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder and then moving with Luisa to
Sapore when we first bought the business in 2006.
His ambition was to work in an hospitality business from early planning stages, to inception to creation and then assist the business in gaining a recognition such as receiving a Hat in The Age Good Food Guide Awards. Well, he has done just that!