Gerardo “Gerry” Locricchio said he and his brother Gennaro enjoyed working with Luciano, a national chain of Italian restaurants.

But, as Locricchio put it, the desire to own and run their own business was too good to resist.

“We worked with Luciano for many years, and we’d always run the store by ourselves. One day, we just decided to get out of that franchise and work on our own business. So far, we’re doing OK,” Locricchio said.

About 10 years ago, the brothers set out on their own and opened what became Po Po Trattoria Pizzeria.

They began by acquiring a former Luciano location at 15614 Huebner Road in the Churchill Estates neighborhood, Locricchio said.

The Po Po concept quickly proved popular. Over the past decade, the brothers have branched out and opened five total storefronts within the Po Po restaurant family around the San Antonio area, including Stone Oak, Locricchio said.

There is also a Boerne-area Po Po location concentrated on family-style comfort food.

Locricchio said he and his brother sought to apply lessons learned in the restaurant industry and to add traditional recipes developed in their family and across Italy to their menu.

“We just decided to do something more authentic Italian with different recipes, more regional dishes and give a better product to people. We want to do something more original,” Locricchio said.

Po Po’s daily menu has 16 pastas; more than a dozen chicken, veal and seafood entrees; and 10 kinds of New York-style pizza prepared in three sizes: 12, 14 and 18 inches.

Po Po’s lunch menu features other items, such as pizza by the slice, paninis, stromboli and calzones.

“We have daily specials. We change the specials every week to bring something new to the customers. The dinner menu is also available for lunch as well,” Locricchio said.

Above all else, the brothers seek to keep a neighborhood feel at all Po Po restaurants, Locricchio said.

“With a lot of customers, we know their names; we try to take care of them best as possible,” he said.