Meet Stefania Panza: Delaware's Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year

Step inside Newark’s Soffritto Italian Grill during dinnertime and the busy tables, clattering silverware and hustling waitstaff all point to a successful restaurant.

It’s a success that restaurant-owner Stefania Panza, winner of this year’s Delaware Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year award from the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce, built from the ground up. She’ll be honored at the Nov. 17 Business Women’s Expo.

Panza and second husband Giovanni opened Soffritto in May, 2005 after an entrepreneurial rollercoaster ride.

After emigrating from Naples, Stefania worked in the kitchen for 12 years at Lamberti’s Cucina, a Centreville Road restaurant operated by her brother.

Panza was married to a chef at the restaurant, but their marriage was falling apart and when she filed for divorce, things got ugly, she said. She ended up bartering her share of the restaurant for custody of her three children, leaving her with nothing but a roof over their heads.

Determined to open a restaurant of her own, Panza used the only money she had – the equity in her home – as a starting point.

“I had to start over again,” she said. “I didn’t know what I’d find on the other side.”

She, Giovanni and the three children all moved into a two-room apartment while they searched for a property to lease. It was a tight squeeze, but Panza said she was driven by a burning desire to succeed.

Unable to find space to lease, Panza ended up buying Lums Diner, a 30-year-old eatery that had never been renovated. But before she could open her Italian restaurant, Panza had to try her hand at running a greasy spoon.

The diner had to stay operational while the state processed the liquor license transfer, she said, so she served breakfast everyday for a month while she waited.

Fried eggs and pancakes are a far cry from the traditional Italian fare that is Panza’s expertise. But the worst part wasn’t making breakfast, it was putting her reputation on the line while she tried to cook good food using second-rate equipment.

“What can you cook in a microwave?” she said.

The customers remained loyal and nearly five years and a dozen awards later, Soffritto is a success story, but that success is fed by the Panzas’ 16-hour days.

For Panza, her passion for the business is two-fold: she loves seeing customers enjoy a fine meal and she thrives on the creative process of putting that meal together in the kitchen.

She likens entrepreneurship to climbing a mountain and said planning and perseverance are the tools that can take you to the top.

“Fear is the failure of a lot of people, but there’s no failure in business,” she said. “It’s only another experience.”