York University Markham Campus names student lounge after local entrepreneur

By David Yin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

York University Markham Campus named a student lounge the Belcastro Family Lounge in honour of Louie Belcastro and his $500,000 donation to the campus.

The Belcastro Family Lounge is located on the second floor of the campus’ atrium.

The family runs the Classic Group of Companies, which manages five catering and food brands to serve clients across the Greater Toronto Area.

Louie’s donation has contributed towards the campus’ $50 million capital campaign and the Belcastro Family Lounge.

Dan Palermo, deputy provost at the Markham campus, said that the campus’ relationship with the Belcastro family goes back to before the campus even launched.

“Obviously, they have strong ties to Markham, but also their story really resonated and aligned strongly with what a campus wants to be,” he said.

Palermo recalled when the Belcastro family visited the Markham campus to share their entrepreneurial history to students.

“I think it probably speaks to a lot of what you see happening in and around Markham and York Region,” he said, “where you have even people coming to Canada – maybe they’re first generation – and they’re really trying to build up companies to be part of the community and giving back.”

Louie’s father, Giuseppe, started The Classic Group as a single food truck in 1962, then called Joseph B. Snack Service. After Giuseppe passed away on a family trip to Italy, Louie began running the truck while he was still in high school.

Since then, the family business has grown to include five brands, a 75,000 combined sq. ft. building, and 40,000 sq. ft. production facilities, with Louie’s children Joseph, Michael, and Alessandra continuing to work within the business.

The company was a finalist in the Community Relations and Cultural Enrichment category at the 2023 Markham Board of Trade Business Excellence Awards. Two years later, the Markham Board of Trade’s Top 40 Under 40 recognized Alessandra for the Hospitality Presence category.

“In order for you to become an entrepreneur and see yourself be successful, you have to be able to have a bad day, look past it, and have a clear vision of where you want to go,” Alessandra said at the awards ceremony.

To learn more about York University Markham Campus, head to www.yorku.ca/markham.

Photo: York University Markham Campus named the Belcastro Family Lounge in honour of Louie Belcastro and his family’s contributions towards the campus. (David Yin photo)