JRN Assignment 3: Interview a Firenze Resident

It's the summer of 1984 in London, England. An old copy of Romeo and Juliet in your lap and headphones blaring Grateful Dead into your ears. You meet a beautiful young 18 year old Italian woman and she becomes your main interest for your last 2 days in London. This is the beginning of Matt Reinecke's long transformation into a Florentine.

Matt, current owner of Mama's Bakery in Florence, brings a Wall Street business attitude to the siesta-taking Italian culture. The 18 year old woman he met in '84 became his long distance pen-pal for two years until Matt moved to Italy and soon after, they were married. Reinecke and his Juliet, Cristina, moved to San Francisco, California where Matt began his career in investment banking. He soon moved up the corporate ladder and was, for lack of a better term, making bank in banking. Then in 1993, the Reineckes moved to Florence, back to his wife's hometown. There he persued mutual fund management at a variety of banks until 2003. At this point, he said "I was paid a lot of money to leave, so I did and basically just screwed around for a couple years". However, his American mind refused to rest and in 2008, Mama's Bakery opened its doors for the first time. Matt noted "I used to have bagels from New York Fed-Ex'd to me from my associates overseas until Mama's". Now, two years later, Mama's continues to grow in popularity and the Italian clientele continues to grow. Matt hopes to turn Mama's into a franchise soon and make more than just bagels. When asked what he misses most about his American way of life, he said "I miss my paycheck and bonuses every month" but he wishes to make many things Mama's in the near future. For the sake of all their loyal customers, the sooner the better!