Doncaster restaurant boss steps down as venue hits 25 with son taking over

Giuseppe Zammuto, owner of Italian steak and grill house Zammuto in Nether Hall Road, chose the restaurant's quarter of a century anniversary celebrations to announce his departure - and a new chapter in the eatery’s history.

He said: “I realised father time was slowing me down and the rigours of restaurant life was talking its toll on my health.

“However I am so proud that my son Christian is taking over the business and hopefully will do so for the next 25 years and beyond.”

Also known as Fratelli’s at one stage, the restaurant first opened its doors in 1998, with staff celebrating the 25 year anniversary with a weekend party.

But it wasn’t Giuseppe’s first foray into food in Doncaster.

He said: “I opened my first shop in 1988, a fish and chip shop in Rossington.

"My specialty there were Mars bar fritters which I was the first to sell in Doncaster.”

Ten years later came Fratelli’s Zammuto and he explained: “Initially we were an Italian restaurant due to my Sicilian/Italian background.

"My father Salvatore Zammuto was from Sicily and left his family at 14 years old and eventually made his way to England via Milan and Germany where he met my mother Maria who was from a small village called San Carlo near Naples.

“We ended up in Doncaster when Rockware Glass opened its factory here.

“The restaurant has lived through seven Prime Ministers, the credit crunch, the pandemic and is now surviving the cost of living crisis.

“My son Christian came on board in 2017 when due to changing eating habits, we changed into a steak house.

"Zammutos has always been a family restaurant and we have my mother at 83 years still working here making three generations of Zammutos here at the same time.

"Most of the staff are family members and even the ones that aren't, I still like to think of them as family.

"Staff past and present and regular customers who have supported us over the years came to the party, along with Nino Romero, my first boss from San Remo's who introduced me to restaurant life in 1985 when I left school.”