Key Results

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• Two thriving clubs - a pasta provisions box and a wine club - running monthly for over two years
• New guest acquisition through word-of-mouth, as members gift boxes and bring friends into the fold
• Private event pipeline built on club trust, with members returning for catered dinners and curated experiences
• Creative outlet for the kitchen, giving the team a monthly canvas to showcase seasonal dishes and regional Italian traditions beyond the restaurant menu

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Thinking outside the four walls

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Vina Enoteca sits in Palo Alto, just steps from Stanford Medical Center - a beautiful location that became a liability when the pandemic hit. And with 50% of the business coming from private events for companies like Apple and Google, Rocco watched an entire year of bookings evaporate in two weeks. The restaurant was hemorrhaging $15,000 a day.

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Rather than shut down and wait, Rocco's instinct was to build. He launched a meal delivery program for healthcare workers that went viral, started assembling boxes for guests at home, and kept the restaurant relevant during a year and a half of closure.

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That scrappy box program planted a seed. When Table22 came along, Rocco recognized the infrastructure he'd been missing. "For us it was a yes right away," he says. "There is so much background on organization, delivery - it's a great way for us to just stay in the restaurant but still send out boxes to our guests."

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A meal for two, built on craft

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With Table22 handling billing, delivery, and subscriber communications, Rocco and his team launched two monthly clubs: a pasta provisions box and a wine club, both available for pickup or delivery on the last Tuesday of each month.

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The pasta box is designed as a complete meal for two, and it reflects the same standards Rocco holds in the restaurant. Fresh pasta, made daily by a dedicated team member over an eight-hour shift. Housemade focaccia. A rotating selection of imported salumi and cheese - like the coppa from a Tuscan producer in Virginia who brought his family's Sienese recipe across the Atlantic, or the truffle-studded pecorino aged three to four months in Piemonte for perfect balance. Each box also includes pantry items sourced directly from Italy - a special olive oil, a particular balsamic - along with a dessert and a recipe card.

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Rocco's sourcing philosophy is simple: make in-house what you can do best, and source from artisans who've spent generations perfecting what you can't. Pasta and bread are non-negotiable - made fresh every day. But prosciutto crudo will always come from Italy, because "America will never make the same level of Parma." Every ingredient earns its place by being tasted and vetted.

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That rigor translates directly into the box. "We kind of transmit it to the box that we do every month," Rocco explains. What arrives at a member's door carries the same intentionality as what comes out of the kitchen on a Saturday night.

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The monthly puzzle

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For the kitchen team, box day has become a creative ritual. Chef builds the menu around what's arriving from local farmers and farmers markets, leaning hard into seasonality. Spring and Summer are the favorite months, when the vegetable and fruit options explode with possibility.

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The box has also become a testing ground. A few months back, the team included a pasta with vodka sauce - a classic Italian dish they'd never actually put on the restaurant menu. The club gave them permission to experiment, gather feedback, and gauge interest without committing to a permanent menu change. Members weigh in freely: the last box was their favorite, or don't put fish in the next one. That feedback loop keeps the offerings sharp and the relationship honest.

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"It's a good way to kind of propose new items and also get feedback from guests. If they like the sauce, they like the different pasta - it's a good way to connect."

- Rocco Scordella, COO Vina Enoteca

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The recipes included in each box carry their own charm - written in the Italian style, where precision gives way to intuition. A little of this, a little of that. For members used to exact measurements, it becomes its own kind of education.

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From subscriber to inner circle

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What started as a revenue stream has quietly become Rocco's most reliable relationship-building engine. Over two years of monthly boxes, club members have developed a level of trust that extends well beyond the subscription itself. They come back for dinner and share feedback on recent boxes. They book private events and ask Rocco to curate menus, sometimes handing him a blank page and saying, do whatever you like.

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"It builds a trust with our customers for sure. And if something comes up - they have a private event at their house - they can ask your suggestion, if you can make something for them. Maybe it's not even on the menu."

- Rocco Scordella, COO Vina Enoteca

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New guests find Vina Enoteca through the club, too. Members gift boxes to friends, who then visit for their first pickup or dinner. The subscription works as a front door that opens into a deeper relationship with the food, the team, and the space.

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Club members also receive a complimentary glass of sparkling wine when they dine-in, an on-premise perk of recognition. "Bubbles never hurt," Rocco quips.

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From Palo Alto to Umbria

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The club's success has fueled Rocco's ambition to extend hospitality beyond the restaurant. This year, he's launching guided trips to Italy - immersive week-long experiences through regions like Veneto, complete with private villas, cooking classes, olive oil tastings, and truffle hunts.

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It's the natural next chapter for a restaurant that learned during the pandemic that survival means building experiences, not just filling seats. The club, the trips, the private events - they're all expressions of the same instinct: stay connected and never let your guests forget you're here.

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Rocco's advice to other operators considering a club? He's already told them. "I actually suggested it to a lot of restaurant friends," he says. "It's a great way to build a completely separate revenue stream. The delivery is done by [Table22]. The email blast is done by them. So there are a lot of parts that we don't have to deal with - and we're always very busy."