About Us

The Cascarelli's story started in Borgo Partenope, Italy in 1856 when Robert Cascarelli was born. Vincenza Biafore was born in 1874 in a neighboring village, and married Robert Cascarelli in the 1890’s.

Robert immigrated to the U.S in 1883, coming to Albion in 1897, settling at 109 S. Superior. Robert went back to Italy and married and came back to the U.S a few years later. Frank Cascarelli, the fifth child of eight was born in 1903, and came to Homer in 1935, buying a business and building from local Tavern owner Maurice Taylor. This began the Cascarelli evolution in the Village of Homer Michigan and fortunately is still a work in progress. Two years later, Frank purchased the present building and they have remained at that location since. Although it was operated only as a tavern and lunch room until 1964, in February of 1965, Bob Cascarelli entered the pizza business and anyone who has enjoyed an original Pizza can attest, customers are glad he did!

Bob joined his father in 1957, mostly bartending on weekends, taking time for college and the military, eventually becoming a full-time employee in 1964 working with his father for many years to come. Bob and Frank continued to make one of the best Pizzas in south central Michigan.

How about some “Old History”. In the late 30’s, a day at the restaurant consisted of at least 18-19 hours, which was the “norm” during the depression to keep things going. Despite the crazy hours, average income for the day could be anywhere from $1.60 to $2.00! Things got a little better on the weekends, where income could increase to $4.00 to $6.00 per day.

In the 50’s Cascarelli’s was selling mostly DRAUGHT beer, and in this era, Cascarelli’s could sell from 8 to 14 barrels of beer per week, depending on how thirsty their patrons were. In 50’s and 60’s two beers were offered on Draught, Pabst And Pheiffers In stark contract to their lineup of foreign and domestic beers they offer today. Cascarelli’s offers 22 Taps of domestic and foreign beers.

While many of Cascarelli’s customers now come from all over southern Michigan and northern parts of Indiana and Ohio, Homer in the 50’s & 60’s had the business capacity of a city with the population of 5,500 people, despite having a population of around 1,500 residents. This certainly brought in the hungry patrons for lunch and dinner and lots of good times on the weekends.Traffic Jams in Homer?

Homer at this time was a Class C school, and the farming community accounting for most of the students in the system. When the farmers came to town on Saturdays, a serious parking problem developed and by 9 am not a parking space could be found anywhere on Main Street. To make the most of all the activity in town, all businesses stayed open until 9 or 10 pm and even the barber shops stayed open until midnight.