After 50 years at a pair of locations in Poughkeepsie ”“ the defunct Rialto Theater originally and more-familiarly at 825 Main Street ”“ Coppola”™s Trattoria and Bar will close to diners July 30. The owners are moving to grocery shelves with a new business plan featuring recipes that have been popular Coppola”™s mainstays for decades.
Principals Jim and Teresa Coppola Morgan have already initiated what Jim termed the transition. He is conducting tastings at Adams Fairacre Farms in Poughkeepsie of Coppola”™s marinara sauce; successfully, he said. “Once people taste our product ”“ not to say there are not good products out there ”“ but ours is one step above. There”™s an attention to detail and there is no compromising on anything.
“What we did in the restaurant is exactly what we”™ll do in the marketplace,” Jim said. The ingredients are local. “If I can”™t get it in the garden, I get it at Adams first thing in the morning.”
Coming sauces in the 825Main brand include pesto, marsala wine and mushroom and the restaurant”™s Italian dressing. As with the restaurant, “We”™re committed to 100 percent customer satisfaction ”“ that is at the forefront of our endeavor,” Jim said.
Teresa noted the marketing chain will be completely refrigerated, part of the freshness ethos. And: “Our blog, ”˜La Vita Gustosa,”™ will continue,” she said.
“We started selling at Adams in April.” Jim conducts taste demonstrations there and so far she said they are moving about two cases (total 24 jars) per week. Her faith in her product is complete, saying of the Italian dressing, “It”™s all they want when they come in.”
Their efforts will compete against less-fresh standbys like Aunt Millie”™s, Prego and Ragu and a gourmet”™s raft of specialty sauces from the likes of Rao”™s and Michael”™s of Brooklyn, celebrity chefs like TV”™s Emeril Lagasse, and even Frank Sinatra, who got in the game with a signature sauce before his death.
Jim said the decision to go into retail was a good one ”“ “the right time to transition.” After an unspecified period when the restaurant will be 825Main headquarters and manufacturing center, the couple will sell it and move to a purpose-built commercial facility.
The walls of Coppola”™s bear plaster cherubs dating to the 1920s-era Rialto Theater, vestiges of the restaurant”™s early address. “Wherever we go, they”™re coming with us,” Teresa said.
