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Giuseppe Lanzone, who trained as a rower with Team USA in Princeton from 2006 to 2009, and Mario Lanzone, say the opportunity to bring Peruvian Brothers to HQ2 in Arlington was one they couldn't turn down.
“We came [to America] to look for a better future,” the former Olympian said. “I feel like I am living the American Dream... and we are still trying to achieve that every day.”
The brothers moved to the US from Peru with their family in the late 1990s when they were in their teens. At the time, they spoke little English, and the adjustment wasn’t easy.
But given the state of their home country — riddled with terrorism, kidnappings and political unrest — it was a necessary one.
Giuseppe went on to become an Olympic rower, then a rowing coach at Georgetown University (and marry a Ho-Ho-Kus native), while Mario worked as a yacht captain in the Mediterranean Ocean.
They rolled out their first Peruvian Brothers food truck in Washington DC in April 2013, and never could've dreamed the success and happiness that it's brought them.
Its success was unprecedented.
“It was a great welcoming from people in DC,” Giuseppe said. In 2014, they opened a second truck. And in 2015, a third.
That’s when Giuseppe quit his job as Georgetown’s rowing coach. His small business venture had become a large undertaking.
“I couldn’t do both,” he said. “My own business was more than a full-time job.”
Just before the pandemic, in February 2020, the Peruvian Brothers landed their first brick and mortar store inside Washington DC's La Cosecha Latin Market within Union Market district.
It was perhaps their biggest test yet.
The Lanzones spent the pandemic packaging more than 20,000 meals to first responders, grabbing donations from the community and partnering with other organizations, donating meals to various hospitals in the DMV.
Still standing and stronger for it, the Peruvian Brothers opened yet another location as a food stand at the Crystal City Water Park. That location closed due to park renovations.
Peruvian Brothers also has a catering contract at the US Capitol, serving lunch to politicians, reporters and celebs.
When the Lanzones were approached about opening a restaurant inside of Amazon’s HQ2 in Arlington, Giuseppe said: “It was an opportunity we couldn’t turn down."
The 2,000-square-foot restaurant will be located on the first floor. The kitchen will be the largest yet for the brothers, who will also have a full bar. All of the popular menu items like Lomo, empanadas and ceviche, the restaurant will be testing out new dishes such as a fried octopus croquet, and various taquenos, or small appetizers.
Giuseppe is grateful for the success he and Mario have seen, and recognizes none of it would’ve been possible without community embrace.
“They’ve taken us in as immigrants — as Peruvians trying to come to this country and show our culture,” Giuseppe said.
“That’s our main goal as Peruvian Brothers: We’re not just a food place, we’re a place where people can come and see our culture. We want you to taste our food, see our culture and say, ‘Hey, our next vacation, let’s go to the beaches of Peru.’
“We achieve that through food.”
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