Ron Suriano II has been working to open Suriano’s Deli & Italian Specialties at 140 Clinton Street in Schenectady for about a year now. Although there’s still no opening date yet, he’s aiming for March. The facade on the building needed to be completed, said Suriano, which caused a delay with opening. “We are working diligently on it,” he said. “I do most of the work to save on labor costs.”

Suriano won’t be running the deli alone. His partner Rosario Mannino was born in Italy and has many family recipes just like Suriano, so they can collaborate. “I originally just wanted to do a community kitchen and then decided almost a year or so ago to open this deli well before all the others closed,” said Suriano. “I feel it’s a great location with all the Italian footprint in our city going away.”