Making Change: Carlino’s, Makers & Purveyors of Artisan Food

“Food and family is our business and our passion,” say owners Pat and Laura Carlino. “We believe in the process of artisan food, the origin, the transformation, and how it’s shared.” Offering home-cooked food using time-honored recipes and freshly sourced ingredients is a tribute to their family legacy, which inspires everything they do.

That sense of family extends to their employees and customers, too. “When a customer walks into Carlino’s, we want them to feel like family,” they say, whether they’re catering a wedding or serving someone a hot cup of coffee. “We’ve been part of so many family events, from weddings to holiday parties. Also, our homemade food provides comfort to those going through tough times. To be part of people’s lives is really special to us and a huge point of pride.” Giving back to organizations like Safe Harbor and the Calliope Joy Foundation is also important to the Carlino family.

Carlino’s has been in business in Ardmore since 1983, and they’ve been a mainstay on Market Street since 2008, when they fell in love with West Chester as it was then and also envisioned its potential. That vision has become reality, they say, thanks to all “the people and businesses that work together to bring people from all over Chester County into our beautiful (and still growing!) downtown.”

Thanks to Carlino’s new e-commerce division, “a family in Kansas City can now serve our lasagna for their holiday dinner, and a woman in Seattle, who hasn’t had Italian Easter pie since childhood, can share a new tradition with her growing family.” But some traditions and values are timeless. As Mama Carlino said, “everything you do must come from the heart.”