About Us

Why the name “Cugini”?

Cugini means cousins in Italian and the founding families are cousins.

La Famiglia

Cugini is a family operated business that has deep roots back to a small town known as Futani in the Campania region of Italy.

It’s All About the Cheese

Cheese was a major influence that brought the vision of Cugini to life, so we wanted to put a unique spin on our market & cafe that incorporated cheese in almost every aspect of our business. Sure, we sell over 75 different cheeses by the pound in our market, but we are far more than just your average cheese store… Many of our sandwiches, subs, and Panini feature Golden Age Cheese (GAC) cheeses. Our Cannoli are always filled to order, and we make the filling in house with preservative and additive free GAC hand-dipped Ricotta that is just hours old when it arrives in Corning. We dedicated some space in our market to Cugini Tasting Bar, so you may try a sampling of cheeses paired perfectly with hand selected beers and wines. We really want to share our knowledge of cheese with the world, so when our mezzanine level isn’t being used for cafe seating, it will serve as a classroom where we will lead over a dozen different classes, many focused on cheese, such as: Wine & Cheese Pairing 101, The Mozzarella Stretch, The Perfect Cannoli, and many more.

Our Investment in Corning

The founding partners of Cugini wanted to give back to a city that they’re so grateful for… So they turned a rather dated building into one that mirrors the beauty of Market St. Below are some before and after photos of 16 W. Market St… We promise it’s the same building!

Front of Building Before