Frank Quaratella: All For The Family

One advantage of being a Mancini: I’m met with instant camaraderie by those with names ending in a vowel. Such is the case with Frank Salvatore Quaratella, owner of iconic in Noank. 

When I mention my name, there’s an instant bond.  We joke about the usual things -  Mancini peppers, Henri Mancini - and as Tarantella is the closest relationship I can draw to Quaratella, we bypass our repartee altogether and go directly to discussions of family.

Family is the cornerstone if not the entire construction of Italian culture.  Quaratella’s family stepped into Universal Food Store in 1947.  Purchased by Frank’s uncles Pasquale and Tebenesco and his father, Salvatore, Frank describes Universal back in the day as packed to the hilt with brothers, aunts, uncles, in-laws, cousins, and himself.

“We came when we were needed and everybody got along,” says Frank.  As a youth he remembers, “We didn’t have much of a choice; we just did what we were told.  That was life in an Italian family.”

Frank grew up in Westerly on the corner of Westminster and John streets, adjacent to an uncle's house.  He remembers closing up the market at 3 p.m. every Sunday and heading to Westerly for a spectacular feast with relatives. 

Many famous people shopped Universal over the years but most memorable for Frank was Rocky Marciano, who stopped by to meet the family in the 1960s.  Frank’s brother Joe worked for Marciano, prompting the visit, which set Universal aglow. 

Between the family business and college, Frank kept a hectic schedule.  With a degree in business, he found employment at Fitch High School and taught from 1972 to 1982.

“I loved teaching,” says Quaratella.  “But unfortunately my father, who ran the business, got sick and I had a decision to make and I made it for the family.”  

Frank’s uncles had retired and no one else was available to take over the business.  In 1982 Frank hung up his teaching hat and stepped into Universal full time, where he’s carried on the tradition of cultivating a closeknit community of employees and family. 

“I enjoy the customers and they’re so much more than customers; they are family,” says Frank.  “The support I get from local residents is second to none.” 

With two grown kids of his own, Frank comments that over the years he’s delighted in watching kids who peek over the counter are now college bound.

Now, manager Lou Conto, steeped in local culinary history, is Quaratella’s wing man. They have known each other for 30 years and together they are further developing Universal’s prepared food business. Equally important, they continue to uphold a precious piece of Noank’s community.

When asked about his future plans for Universal, Quaratella gives me a subtle shrug with a smile and a hand gesture saying, "There’s only one guy that depicts the future and he’s upstairs; whatever that brings, I’ll just have to accept."