The two brothers from Loudon first thought about a coffee business, their own coffee business, about a decade ago.
That’s when Chuck Nemiccolo returned from Colorado to the Granite State, filled with the aroma and communal vibe that the coffeehouses there had given him. He worked at Starbucks in Concord. Then, recently, he created a partnership with his younger brother, Ian Nemiccolo, and the two created a family portrait that even the Brady Bunch would envy.
The Nemiccolos are launching Brothers Cortado, a coffee shop named after the frothy espresso found in Europe. It’ll open at the former location of True Brew Barista, the popular Bicentennial Square coffee shop and bar that closed for good during the pandemic. Ian owns it, 50-50 with his mother, and hopes to open next month. The deal was finalized Wednesday. They’ll serve coffee and espresso to-go on one side, and feature space on the opposite side, where music once played, for sitting, sipping and working on your laptop. Unlike True Brew, alcohol will not be served at the new site.
Chuck will run it, later evolving into the face and hands-on guy of the operation. They’ve hired a cousin to be their accountant, an uncle who works for a signage company to assist with advertising and decorating, their mother’s friend to handle the interior design.
She’s considered part of the family as well, common DNA not required. This is a family with deep, traditional Italian roots. Membership is sacred, loyalty vital. You win their hearts, you’re in.
“I’m excited to be doing it with my brother,” Chuck said. “And we also don’t look at family as blood only. It is anyone who is around us. I grew up with an open-door policy at my house, and friends knew if they needed a place to stay overnight, they could stay, even when I wasn’t there.”
The family’s roots sprout throughout the building. Chuck and Ian’s father lived upstairs decades ago. Later, the family church was located there.
And 12 years ago, Rob and Stephanie Zinser moved into the building – which by then had become a distinguished-looking, visual characteristic in the city, a constant like the bricks that dominate Bicentennial Square – after their pioneering coffee delivery service demanded expansion.
With Rob managing the business and Stephanie, a full-time respiratory therapist at Concord Hospital, supporting him all the way, True Brew split into a coffeehouse with baked goods, chairs and couches, and a nightclub on the other side, with a booze-serving bar and live bands.
The spot became a starting point for two central groups: morning people who started their day there, oftentimes before work; and weekend partiers, who often began their night with a few drinks and some tunes before heading out to another bar.
The Zinsers put True Brew up for sale last summer, citing Rob’s desire to retire to their 4o-foot sailboat, docked on Lake Winnipesaukee, and live their summers without the pressure of owning a business located an hour away. Those plans changed once COVID clouded the economic scene. Plus, Rob grew nostalgic, and the couple re-opened last August, choosing to wait until the perfect successor could be found.
“It just seemed like there were a lot of people who were upset we were leaving and we wanted to continue it,” Rob said at the time. “We’re just trying to find the right person, and there are still some people who are interested.”
The Nemiccolos bought it, and will add their own vision to the space. They had what the sellers wanted: they lived locally, they had a coffee-related vision for the building, and family was emphasized. Ian, in fact, lives in the house, in Loudon, in which he grew up. His parents moved down the street. He graduated from Concord Christian Academy and loved hanging around downtown.
“It’s important with Concord, trying to boost Concord and build downtown,” Ian said. “I grew up in Concord and spent all my time there. We want to build our business around our community.”
The idea came from Chuck, who tasted the coffee scene in Colorado and loved it. He saw the coffeehouse as an institution, as the core of a community. People gathered there, talked there.
“I wanted a cafe,” Chuck said. “It was a good place for people to get together and experience coffee, talk to one another. I fell in love with coffee at that point and I came home and wanted to have that cafe experience.”
He returned to the Granite State and worked in Starbucks. He said he conducted coffee tastings, combining different roasts, to see what customers liked best, see what food paired the best with which coffee.
“We sold a lot of coffee that way,” Chuck said.
Now, they’re trying again. Only this time, it’s their cafe.
Meanwhile, lives have changed. Chuck already left his job in sales to prepare for his new career. He has no children, giving him the time to become the face of Brothers Cortado, the brother you’ll see more often.
Ian now works part-time at the local Verizon store, cutting his hours in half so he could devote the time needed to open a business. He’s meeting with vendors, planning remodeling strategy, giving himself entirely over to his work like he’s never done before.
He’s got three kids at home, ages 6 months to 5 years old, as he enters the first business venture of his young life. “I’m super busy,” Ian said.
He’s got family members everywhere, working on a goal. And once open, some could even be sitting at one of the tables.
“Family is deeper than blood,” Ian said. “It’s more about the relationship.”