Joe Perazella ’05 and Johanna Romegialli Perazella, Mercy ’03
pperkfect PARTNERS Xavier And Mercy Alums Joe And Johanna Perazella Have Found Just What They Needed By Opening Their Dream Coffee Shop
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“ We
wanted to be able to offer really good coffee in a really relaxing environment that everybody can be comfortable coming in and ordering. We have the punk rock music on and the dim lights. We wanted to make it a place we would go to and hang out.
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hen Joe Perazella ’05 and his wife Johanna traveled to San Diego in 2014, they had only been dating for less than a year, but that did not stop them from a hatching a plan together. Inspired by a visit to James Coffee, the couple started t h i n k i n g a b o u t c re at i n g t h e ir ow n c a f é b ac k h o m e in Connecticut. “We were there, and we looked at each other and we we’re like – we need this,” said Johanna, who graduated from Mercy in 2003. It would take almost four years from that moment, but the couple got their spot. In the fall of 2018, the Perazellas opened Perkatory on North Main in Middletown, fulfilling their shared dream. “We wanted to have a place where people can connect, build relationships and come together and congregate,” Joe said. Whether it is the logo, which features a skeleton raising the shaka, the universal sign for hang loose, or the posters paying tribute to southern California skate boarding culture, Perkatory is unlike any other coffee place you’ve seen in Connecticut. “There is a general feeling or idea with craft coffee that it is intimidating. You go into a craft coffee shop and you do not really know what you want, and there’s this feeling that the baristas are going to judge you,” Joe said. “We wanted to remove that. We wanted to be able to offer really good coffee in a really relaxing environment that everybody can be comfortable coming in and ordering. We have the punk rock music on and the dim lights. We wanted to make it a place we would go to and hang out.”
