Today we’d like to introduce you to Bill Hager.
Hi Bill, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Annagio’s started with a simple idea — make food the way we believe it should be made: with pride, craftsmanship, and without shortcuts.
My background is actually not in the restaurant industry. I come from a sixth-generation building family dating back to 1868. For most of my life I built custom homes and worked in construction, where attention to detail and doing things the right way mattered. That same mindset eventually became the foundation of Annagio’s.
Cooking was always a passion in our family, especially Italian food. We loved the tradition behind it — recipes made slowly, ingredients treated with respect, and meals that bring people together. After years of cooking for family and friends, my wife Doreen and I decided to take a chance and create Annagio’s Italian.
We started small, operating from a food trailer in Cibolo, Texas, but we never approached it like “food truck food.” Our goal from day one was to create restaurant-quality Italian food made from scratch. We make our pasta, sauces, meatballs, Italian beef, lasagna, and many of our recipes ourselves because we believe customers can taste the difference.
The journey has not always been easy. Like any small family business, there have been long days, challenges, and plenty of lessons learned, but we built Annagio’s one customer at a time. The support from our community has been incredible, and many of our customers have become like family.
Today Annagio’s continues to grow with the same goal we started with: create great food, treat people right, and build something lasting for our family and community.
Our dream is to take the next step into a full brick-and-mortar restaurant where we can bring the complete Annagio’s experience to life.
Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene ~ Eat Well, Live Well
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, it definitely has not been a smooth road, but the challenges are part of what has shaped Annagio’s.
When we started, we were entering a completely new industry. My background was building and construction, so there was a tremendous learning curve moving from creating homes and projects to building a restaurant brand. We had to learn every part of the business — food costs, operations, equipment, technology, marketing, online ordering, and customer expectations.
Starting from a food trailer created its own challenges. We had the same expectations for ourselves as a full restaurant — handmade pasta, sauces from scratch, fresh ingredients, and consistent quality — but we were doing it in a much smaller space with limited equipment and resources.
There have been long days, mistakes, and moments where we had to adapt quickly. As a small family business, you don’t have separate departments for every problem. You are the cook, repair person, marketing team, customer service, and everything in between.
But the biggest lesson has been that the same principles apply whether building homes or building a restaurant: take pride in your work, pay attention to details, solve problems, and never stop improving.
Every challenge has made Annagio’s stronger. We are still building, still learning, and still chasing the vision we had from the beginning — creating a restaurant our family and community can be proud of.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Annagio’s Italian is a family-owned, scratch-made Italian kitchen in Cibolo, Texas built around quality, tradition, and craftsmanship.
We specialize in handmade Italian comfort food — fresh pasta made in-house, slow-cooked sauces, lasagna, meatballs, chicken dishes, Chicago-style Italian beef, and recipes created with the same attention to detail you would expect from a full-service Italian restaurant.
What sets Annagio’s apart is our commitment to doing things the right way. We don’t believe great food comes from shortcuts. Many of our recipes take hours or even days to develop because flavor, texture, and consistency matter.
Our philosophy comes from our family background in craftsmanship — build it better, make it better, and always keep improving. That mindset guides everything we do.
What we are most proud of is the community that has grown around Annagio’s. We started small, but every customer, every review, and every relationship has helped us continue toward our goal of creating a permanent restaurant where families can gather and enjoy real, scratch-made Italian food.
At the end of the day Annagio’s is about more than food. It is about family, tradition, and creating something meaningful.
Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene ~ Eat Well, Live Well
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Something that surprises many people is that Annagio’s was not created by someone who spent their entire career in restaurants. It was created by a builder.
I come from a sixth-generation building family with roots dating back to 1868, and that background influences everything we do. The same ideas I learned in construction — craftsmanship, quality materials, patience, problem solving, and attention to detail — are the same principles we use every day at Annagio’s.
People often see the finished plate of food, but they don’t always see the process behind it. The handmade pasta, slow-cooked sauces, recipe testing, and constant adjustments all come from the same mindset: keep improving and build it better.
Another thing people may not realize is that Annagio’s is truly a family effort. Behind every plate are long days, late nights, and a family working together toward the dream of creating a permanent restaurant for our community.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://annagios-cibolo.cloveronline.com/menu/all
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annagiositalian
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annagios
