In March 2026 NYC celebrates ten years of activity. A goal that tells the path of its founder, James Marcolin, and an idea born working in the catering of New York City: building a recruiting service able to bring back to the center of hospitality what is often lost in the selection processes, people. “Every night I thought the same thing: there must be a better way,” he recalls today.
The story of James Marcolin begins very far from the skyscrapers of Manhattan, in a small town near Venice, grown in Carmignano di Brenta (in the province of Padua). It is there that it grows in a traditional Italian family, where the relationship between food, welcome and human relations is part of everyday life.
“As a child I have developed a very strong love for people and food,” he says. Two elements which in Italian culture are deeply linked and which, over the years, will also become the basis of its professional vision.
One of the stories that marked his life is about his grandparents. The grandmother’s family managed a small accommodation facility in Venice and she started working very young, without being able to continue her studies. One day he served a dish of fresh pasta to a client of the family restaurant.
That client would become her husband.
“For my grandfather was love at first sight,” says Marcolin. “He continued to return to the restaurant to see her again until she fell in love. It is from them that he learned what hospitality really means. Not only a job, but a way of living made of respect, dedication and attention to others. Among the most important teachings received by grandmother there is one who still remembers today: “He always said to me: you can always help someone, even when you think you have nothing to offer.”.
Growing up, that passion has become a professional choice. Marcolin decides to study hospitality and graduates with the highest ratings in Hospitality Management at Almerico da Schio in Vicenza. He then studied Communication and Translation at the University of Padua and later at Oxford.
His journey soon became international. He lives and works between England, France, Spain and Canada, accumulating experiences in the hospitality industry. “These years have taught me to see hospitality from different perspectives,” he explains.
The turning point comes when he moves to New York City, one of the world’s food capital. Here he builds his career working in the field from small steps, and as many immigrants starting from small jobs and working two/three alvours at the same time as waiter, busser and host, until he plays the role of General Manager.
It is during those years that it begins to notice a recurring criticality in the field: the process of selection of the staff is often inefficient and expensive. Work announcements that attract hundreds of unqualified applications, random emails, little productive interviews. Many restaurateurs end up losing time and precious energies. “The problem was not just organizational,” he explains. “The feeling was that you were losing sight of the human aspect of hospitality.”.
That reflection becomes more and more insistent. “Every night I came home thinking the same thing: there must be a better way.”.
After years working in the sector, From that idea, in 2016, PERSONE NYC was born. The project starts from a simple conviction: in the world of hospitality the human factor must return to the center. Not only technical skills or curriculum, but relationships, personality, vision. “I wanted to create a recruiting service that really put people in the centre,” says Marcolin. Not by chance the name of the company is an Italian word. “PERSONE means exactly that.”.
In ten years NYC has helped hundreds of restaurants and hospitality professionals meet and grow together. The company has built a solid reputation in the recruiting scene in New York City, distinguishing itself for the five-star reviews received from both customers and candidates.
In addition to business, Marcolin also maintains a strong civic commitment. He is involved in several organizations supporting small businesses, civil rights and environmental sustainability, including New York Immigration Coalition, Immigration Equality, NYC Homeless Coalition, City Harvest, God’s Love We Deliver and The Ocean Cleanup. “I think a lot about returning something to the community,” he explains.
Looking back at these first ten years of activity, Marcolin recognizes how his path has been influenced by Italian roots and the teachings received in the family. “I am very grateful for my roots, which led me into many of my choices in life and to really understand what it means to be an Italian abroad and proud of my origins,” he says. And the conviction that accompanies him is the same from which the whole project was born: “Hospitality is, first of all, a matter of passion for hospitality: people.”.
Today James lives in Brooklyn and after almost twenty years and New York continues his American dream.
L’articolo PERSONE: the company that brought humanity into the recruiting of hospitality in New York is 10 years old from IlNewyorkese.
