'It's in our blood': Inside the Salvatore hospitality dynasty

Mention the name Salvatore’s in the Buffalo region and you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t heard of the ornate Italian restaurant/banquet center in Lancaster or 90-year-old Russell “Russ” Salvatore, who founded the business in 1967.

Lesser known is the family’s extensive history in the hospitality industry, which started with Salvatore’s father and continues into the fourth generation.

That history includes some of the strife that often comes along with intergenerational business succession. But it also includes all three living generations putting their individual experiences to work to grow new businesses in the bar/restaurant, hotel, banquet — and, more recently, residential property — realms.

Today, family members separately own about a dozen businesses that collectively employ about 350. Though they declined to discuss revenue, their success can be inferred somewhat by the millions of dollars they’ve given to Western New York charitable organizations over the years, including the Buffalo City Mission , Brothers of Mercy, Erie County Medical Center Corporation and Trocaire College .

Nearly everyone in the Salvatore family has worked at one of Russ’ ventures at one time or another, some for many years. In the early years, his now-estranged wife Barbara made all the desserts for the restaurant. Son Joe started in the business as a teenager. Daughter Rosemarie worked in the office while a second daughter, Tina, opted out of the family business.

Most of the five grandchildren got their start with Russ as well, including Justin and Robert Bingel, both sons of Rosemarie, who co-own 12-year-old YOLO Restaurant & Lounge and recently opened a second venture with plans for further growth.

“Like everyone says,” Justin said, “it’s in our blood.”

Read more in today's cover story by Tracey Drury

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Paul Ciminelli's take on weathering 'challenging times'

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"It's real challenging times," he said. "You're looking at the overall economy, and there's a lot of headwinds."

Development opportunities are fewer and further between right now as interest rates rise and banks pull back on lending — but Ciminelli Real Estate is more than just a developer or investor. ? |? Read more

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New seafood eatery to open in Olcott

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Juggling, begging, negotiating to keep a new hospital on track

As the Oct. 10 opening approaches of Catholic Health ’s new 63,000-square-foot hospital in Lockport, CEO Joyce Markiewicz has been busy sweating the small stuff.

That includes light fixtures – thousands of them – which were delayed this summer and were expected to take two months to arrive on a boat from a Chinese supplier. Instead, Markiewicz negotiated a deal with a Canadian manufacturer for a just-in-time delivery system that brought in fixtures weekly, as they were ready, to enable room-by-room completion.

“We weren’t going to be able to coordinate the electricians that would be needed to install all of this and get the ceilings up,” she said.

Markiewicz has overseen construction from day one for the new Lockport Memorial Hospital, which will operate as a second campus of Mount St. Mary’s Hospital. ?|? Read more

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'If you go public, you have to put in a lot of hard work'

From university dropout to CEO of a fast-growing public company, Steven Rossi’s journey broke the C-suite mold in many ways.

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These colleges are most popular among Buffalo's top executives

The top executives at the region's largest companies collectively oversee more than 100,000 employees. They often face many of the same day-to-day challenges of running a business. For those who aspire to executive leadership in Western New York, examining where these top leaders went to college gives some insight into their career journey.? |? Read more

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This Weekly Edition was compiled by Sara Paulson Meehan. Questions? Comments? Concerns??Send them to [email protected].