Customer's Choice

If love had a flavor, it might taste like the soft, buttery sticky buns that are baked from the heart at Pané Rustica Bakery & Café in Tampa, FL. "It makes me so happy to please people," says Kevin Kruszewski, who runs the Zagat-rated restaurant with wife Karyn. "There's no reason a restaurant can't use the best ingredients, prepare them with love and serve them at affordable prices."

More than just a local darling and wholesale supplier of some of the region's most admired baked goods, Pané Rustica is also a business standard which others strive to meet. "We want to satisfy what our customers want, which means always being prepared," says Karyn.

Sysco Classic Sweet Spring Mix Lettuce

Product Focus
The restaurant opened small in 1999, but has flowered into a hometown favorite that's the stuff of childhood memories. Producing four tons of scratch bread weekly, the operation is also known for its fresh café-style fare-including the delicious salads it builds using SYSCO Classic Sweet Spring Mix Lettuce (SUPC #9516907). "The product is unique because it lacks radicchio, and Kevin's guests love that about it," says Marketing Associate Cameron Salmon, who adds that the establishment goes through 20 cases per week of the sweet salad base.

But it's not just quality ingredients that fuel Pané Rustica's success. Kevin also attributes the restaurant's popularity to the passion and caring that drive the business daily. It's a pursuit of excellence-not just by him and Karyn, but by everyone who's a part of the restaurant's daily operation.

"You're only as good as your last meal served," says Kevin, adding that he's hired people who perpetuate that philosophy. "Our whole commitment is to do the best we can, every day."

Menu Style: Bakery goods to sandwiches and panini's at lunch to upscale Italian for dinner time.