In any restaurant, the people matter just as much as the food does. We pride ourselves on the fact that we work hard to get to know our customers and give them the best dining experience we can. We work together as a family, and treat everyone who walks into the door like a family. So, we thought it might be fun for you to get to know some of our family members. Meet Jeff Cappellano, the captain of Boom Vaughan. We caught hold of Jeff while he was somewhere in between inventory, greeting customers and sharing inside jokes with the staff. Here’s what he had to share with us.

Tell us about the highlights of where you grew up and what you did before you ended up at Boom?

I was born and raised in Toronto in a Canadian/Italian family. My early years were spent growing up on College St. and as I got older we moved to the High Park area of Toronto. Winter months were spent playing indoor ball, hockey and volleyball and in the summer I would play, coach, and umpire baseball at the Annette Baseball Association. My first job was at 14, as a busboy, a very bad bus boy. After high school, I spent 6 years working for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, as well as 6 summers working as a Camp Counselor in Pennsylvania at Camp Starlight. I graduated from George Brown College in Business Administration.

Tell us about you busboy Skills (or lack thereof)

When I was 14 and started out as a busboy at Churrasco Villa (Mt. Pleasant/Eglinton), I was refilling a guest’s glass of water and totally missed the glass, splashed water everywhere. We finally got it all cleaned up and I brought over a fresh glass, went to fill it again and missed the glass AGAIN. Disaster. Needless to say, I didn’t spend much more time as a busboy, Just ask Tony.

What made you get into the restaurant business?

My father opened Boom Breakfast in 2003, when I was 16. I would spend my weekends while in school working as a barista. The rest was really history. I always had a hand in the business while in school and doing some other side jobs. When I graduated from George Brown in 2011, we had just begun the planning stages for our Vaughan location. When we opened at the end of 2012, I came on Full-Time to manage our newest location. It’s been 3 1/2 years, and I’m still here.

What do you love most about Boom?

Boom feels, and has always felt, like home. I think a lot of our employees and guests will agree. Everyone is welcome, everyone is made to feel comfortable. We know a lot of our regulars by name, we know their order, they know what to expect when they come into our restaurants. I love the interactions with our guests and getting to know them, and then they bring their friends and families and we get to know them as well!

What do you think sets Boom apart from other breakfast places?

At Boom you will always see one of the family in the restaurant, no matter the location. We are always here. We play an active role in the business and really put our heart into it. We are knowledgeable of the products and we are comfortable with everything we serve. We test and test, and try and try. We would not serve anything to our guests that we wouldn’t eat ourselves. Our produce comes in fresh, our bread comes in fresh, our eggs are cracked fresh to order, our meat is cooked fresh to order, that makes a huge difference.

What do you see in the future of Boom Breakfast 10 years from now?

Hopefully more and more Booms. We are still a young company, only 13 years old. So there is lots of room for bigger and brighter things.

So, we’d like to raise our mimosas to a great future ahead. We hope to see you at our restaurants, where you’ll enjoy great food, great company and maybe some anecdotes from Jeff about his busboy days 😉