Founded in 1963 by Tarcisio Boffo, Boffo Properties approaches development from a neighborhood-building perspective, essentially focusing on how each new project can add to and enhance each community. Our Boffo Properties residential development experience ranges from stacked townhouses in Burnaby to mixed-market and non-market homes in East Vancouver, to city homes and apartments near Queen Elizabeth Park. Additionally, our experience encompasses significant social partnerships in market and non-market multi-family development. Working for the past five years in partnership with The Kettle Society, we have experience navigating ongoing Community Planning processes in conjunction with more complicated rezoning applications. Furthermore, our income producing portfolio includes a combination of commercial and industrial space in New Westminster and Vancouver. And throughout this, our Boffo Building team manages the entire construction and build out process for both our residential and commercial/industrial portfolio. With a strong team both at the forefront and behind the scenes, we believe in a creative and thoughtful approach to development, designing and building new homes and places to work.
Friends of Italian Day
For over 60 years BOSA Foods has been a leading importer and distributor of specialty Italian and Mediterranean food products to the food service and retail markets in Western Canada. As purveyors of specialty foods, we carry over 7,000 Specialty Food Products sourced and imported from around the world. Our commitment is to provide our customers with the finest quality products, prices, and service possible. BOSA Foods has two retail locations in Vancouver; Victoria Drive and Kootenay Street.
Visit us and experience the world of Specialty Italian and Mediterranean Foods.
Bosa Properties, part of the Bosa Family Companies, is an international developer focused on creating buildings of global stature in extraordinary locations. Led by CEO Colin Bosa, the family-operated business is a fully integrated company involved in the entire real estate development process, from planning to construction, sales and marketing, property management, and customer service.
For more than five decades, our family-run company has earned a reputation for quality, integrity, and innovation. Growing from humble beginnings, our story began when Robert Bosa first emigrated from Italy to Vancouver alongside his family in the 1960s to start a small construction company. Today, we have the privilege of being one of Canada’s most respected, privately-owned companies, with a sterling reputation for excellence in design and construction.
We understand quality building because it is part of our DNA. Since our founding as small family-run construction business, we still build all of our projects with an in-house construction team. Many of those builders have been part of our company for decades. Our heritage of excellence in construction and institutional knowledge mean we are able execute the most complex architectural designs with confidence and skill. For us, every detail is considered—and every detail matters.
Cannoli King has been locally handcrafting Vancouver’s ” Original” Sicilian Cannoli for almost 40 years at our commissary Italia Bakery. Our truck was born right here on Commercial drive at Italian Day 5 years ago.
We always recommend our Sicilian, but have expanded menu with some exciting flavours. Check us out on Commercial Drive at Italian Day 2019, Kitchener and at 5th Ave.
Since 1990, Choices Markets has been a leader in offering local, organic and specialty food items in a warm, welcoming environment. Choices is 100% BC owned and operated and committed to supporting local communities. Whether you are looking for healthy food items to feed your family, or specialized items for an allergy or dietary restriction, you will find it at your local Choices. Need advice? Choices’ Nutrition Team of Dietitians and Holistic Nutritionists offer free health consultations at a Choices near you. Whatever you need, Choices is here to help.
This year at Italian Day, Choices is proud to be offering a donation barbecue with 100% of the proceeds supporting CLICK (Contributing to Lives of Inner City Kids) – a grassroots charity that helps the one in five children living in poverty in Vancouver. As a proud member of the local community, Choices prides itself on supporting fellow community organizations looking to do good. CLICK is run entirely by volunteers and since it launched in 2004, has directed more than $700,000 to 450 different programs that make a vital, daily difference to kids living in poverty in our city.
Da Vinci International Travel in Vancouver, a proud Italian Day sponsor, is the preferred travel agency for personal and corporate travel.
We specialize in European travel as well as all destinations worldwide. With more than 40 years of experience, our staff understands the trust our clients place in us, and we strive to alleviate as much stress from travel as possible, leaving you only to enjoy your trip, making everlasting memories.
While we are known as the ‘Italy Experts’, we also offer: tour packages, airline tickets, groups, honeymoon, destination weddings, hotels, villas, car rentals, travel insurance, rail passes and more! Not to mention our dedicated agents for corporate travel.
For all your travel needs, call the experts at Davinci Travel and travel the world!
Ducati Richmond is Canada’s first exclusive Ducati dealer. We opened our doors in 2013 and have since established ourselves as the dealership for having the whole Ducati experience.
At Ducati Richmond, Customer Service is paramount to us. As Ducati riders ourselves, we understand the rider and anticipate their needs and desires for their riding experience. For our customers, we show MotoGP races live in store, sponsor and participate in track day events, and host social events to gather the riding community together. We aim to please every one of our customers with our friendliness, professionalism and expertise.
Ducati is synonymous with Style, Sophistication and Performance. The Ducati brand continues to move forward with the newest technologies and there is constant improvement in performance and reliability. Ducati offers the best of the best motorcycles in the world. But the Ducati brand is evolving, and we want all to be able to have the Ducati experience. Ducati motorcycles start at under $10,000 and often have very good finance rates to make your dream motorcycle more accessible to you.
Ducati Richmond is your one stop shop for all things Ducati!
Federico’s Supper Club is one of the BEST Italian restaurants Vancouver has to offer, where guests are treated to a combination of authentic Italian cuisine and welcoming hospitality, served up in an old school atmosphere complete with live music and dancing FIVE nights a week. With your host, Federico Fuoco, and other house entertainers performing nightly, the Supper Club has also become home to a variety of monthly special events, including featured guest performers, world class tributes, food and wine experiences and more.
Throwback themes and Italian charm, Federico’s Supper Club, located in Vancouver’s Little Italy, boasts Italy’s prestigious ‘Quality Seal Certification’ and multiple Dine Out, Diner’s Choice and hospitality awards. There is something for everyone at Federico’s – a timeless and embracing factor that distinguishes the Supper Club from any other restaurant or live music venue in Vancouver. Whether celebrating a special occasion, an evening out with friends or a date night – Federico’s is about feel good moments from palate to heart – a truly unique experience.
Martelli Foods represents Garofalo Pasta Canadawide. La Grotta del Formaggio is our distributer for Garofalo Pasta in Vancouver. Garofalo’s Pasta factory is located in Gragnano, a small town south of Naples. Gragnano is considered the birthplace of pasta and it is hidden between the sea and the mountains which is the ideal climate for producing pasta and using natural wind currents to slow dry for optimal taste and digestion. The “Pasta di Gragnano” is the only dry pasta variety to be recognized by the European Commission as an IGP. A designation guaranteeing a product originating from a region whose quality, recipe and characteristics can be traced to its geographical origin.
Dating back to the 1700’s, the Municipal Authority of Gragnano grated only to Mr. Garofalo an official license for making and selling pasta. 200 Years of Experience has been a huge advantage in the development of the Garofalo Signature pasta. Second and third generation workers have incorporated decades of knowledge of the art and skill of pasta making with the efficiencies of today’s technology. The highest quality pasta is bronze die cut, an ancient Italian technique that gives a rough porous surface to the pasta that enables it to absorb the sauce well.
La Grotta Del Formaggio is an Italian specialty delicatessen, located at 1791 Commercial Drive, in the heart of Vancouver’s ‘Little Italy’. The company has been supplying Vancouver with high-quality ingredients from across the Mediterranean for over 40 years. As the demand for these items grew, so did the wholesale and catering aspect of the business. Now you can find our products in stores and restaurants all over the city, sourced not only from Europe but the globe. Today, the retail store still resides in the same location, and continues to provide an amazing selection of imported and local ingredients.
With a background in culinary arts and a generation of experience, La Grotta Del Formaggio can help you find the greatest food for your pantry – not to mention some of the best sandwiches in the city. Speaking of those sandwiches, the possible combinations are unlimited: customers can select the bread, cheese, meat, toppings and sauces to make their own perfect meal. Buon Appetito!
You can find Garofalo pasta at La Grotta Del Formaggio. If you are a business and you would like Garofalo products in your store, contact the office at info@lgdf.ca to find out about our wholesale options.
Kalena’s has been a family operated business for 52 years, and continues to sell Italian Leather Shoes, Boots, Handbags and Accessories for men and women. They have recently added to their collection a few new European brands: Fly London, Birkenstocks and Geox.
KALENA’S offers a unique selection of high fashion leather shoes with a dedication to quality craftmanship. Although KALENA’s has had secondary locations, on Robson Street, Oakridge Centre, North Vancouver, and Vancouver Centre, the Commercial Drive store in the heart of Little Italy has always been considered home. From this location KALENA’S continues to offer a wide variety of high quality, fashion forward, footwear in various sizes along with warm personalized service.
Laura Ballance Media Group is a strategic communications firm that offers public relations, advertising and marketing services for public, private, and not-for-profit organizations.
We specialize in ensuring our clients meet their business objectives by looking through the lens of their target audience, be that consumers, sponsors, partners, employees, event attendees or the general public.
Services include strategic public relations planning; digital and traditional advertising strategy development, buying and placement; social media channel development and management; writing services; targeted media and influencer database management, media relations, story pitching, media training and crisis communications/issue management services.
Having graced your tables for almost 60 years, Milano Bakeries uses time-honoured recipes to create a wonderful assortment of products, such as the Giant Lady Finger and the S Cookie.
Established in 1955, this bakery is still a family operated business committed to producing premium cookies, panettone and colomba. Our confections are made with the finest, most simple ingredients in our 100% peanut-free, Canadian facility. Milano Bakeries has expanded their locally-made selection by importing some baked goods from Italy, such as premium filled croissants, cantuccini and sfogliatine. All their baked goods are a perfect pairing to your tea or coffee, a good addition to one’s breakfast and excellent as a snack-on-the-go! At some point between your childhood and today, these cookies were treats that became traditions. That’s why 60 years later Milano stands strong as the brand that you reach for when you’re hungry for home.
The Onni Group is a proud sponsor of Italian Day on Commercial Drive. As one of North America’s leading private real estate developers, Onni has extensive experience designing, developing, building and managing innovative projects. As a fully integrated company that directly oversees every step in the development process, Onni has built over 15,000 homes. In addition, the company owns and manages more than 10.5 million square feet of commercial property, over 7,200 rental apartment units, and has an additional 28 million square feet in various stages of development. With offices in Vancouver, Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix and Mexico, Onni continues to expand and diversify into new markets throughout North America.
Welcome everyone to Italian Day here on Commercial Drive!!
It ’s a special time of year and it’s nice to celebrate with the people in our community which makes Commercial Drive feel like home.
Wishing everybody all the best from your local Shopper’s Drug Mart.
Dan Kooner,
Pharmacist/Owner
“Right now, TELUS is building the network of the future across Western Canada. To get a glimpse of what will be possible in the future visit the PureFibre truck and see how technology will transform your lives when homes are connected at the speed of light.”
It began in a small palazzo on Via Tevere—a street in the heart of Naples, the roots of our family story. Throughout childhood and to this day, we have spent countless summers on Via Tevere, where we quickly learned about the importance of food in the Neapolitan way of life. Of the utmost significance is the iconic pizza, which has become the symbol of Naples. Pizza Napoletana is lauded for its rustic simplicity, its traditional wood-fire cooking method and its celebration of Neapolitan ingredients. Our goal is to honour our family heritage and the tradition of pizza-making by serving up la vera pizza Napoletana—the true Neapolitan pizza.
In an effort to bring Neapolitan food to the streets of Vancouver, we rolled out “Il Saltimbocca” a food truck that specializes in Neapolitan Saltimbocca, a wood-fired, “pizzeria sandwich”. The bread is baked in a 900° woodfire oven where it takes on the characteristics of Pizza Napoletana—soft, yet charred with the classic fire-roasted spotting. The bread is then loaded with meats and cheeses, roasted again in the wood-fire oven and finished with basil mayo, fresh tomato and crisp arugula.
Branded Business Apps – Driven by curiosity and intrigued by the power of human behaviour, we design apps that encourage customer engagement and establish long-term brand success.