Accent on Food : The owners of Bauducco’s say a gamble and hard work in an adopted country paid off.

When Francesco and Paola Bauducco came to America 34 years ago, they never imagined owning a business.

But since they opened Bauducco’s in 1970, their Italian grocery-bakery-restaurant has been a landmark in the Conejo Valley. Patrons include such celebrities as Frankie Avalon and Donna Summer as well as immigrants who identify with the Old World atmosphere.

“Our customers say when they have visitors from abroad, the first place they bring them is Bauducco’s because they feel at home,” said Francesco, 61. But Mr. and Mrs. B, as they are known, were not born restaurateurs.

“There is an expression I’ve heard,” he said. “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”

And work they did. After moving to Westlake Village in 1964, Paola, a former sewing machine operator, worked as a telephone operator at GTE. Francesco worked in the electronics industry, which was laying off employees at the time, and did not feel secure in his job.

So the couple took a gamble in 1970 and bought a little store on Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

“We were already thinking we could make pasta fresca and sell sandwiches,” Francesco said. By 1979, they had outgrown the old location and opened Bauducco’s in Westlake Village. Their daughter and son, an attorney, have worked in the family business. And the staff of 42 includes Germans, Mexicans and Italians.

“We even have Americans working for us,” Francesco said.

In fact, the Bauduccos are Americans. They became citizens as soon as possible because they wanted to vote.

“We worked here,” Francesco said. “We bought cemetery plots because we want to live and die here. The country was good to us. And we felt we owed just as much back as what we got.”

For Paola, 55, the sense of protection in the United States is important. She was a child in Italy during World War II: “It was a scary time. As children, a look was enough for us not to talk because of the danger to our parents. It was a matter of life and death. So when I got to this country when I was 19, I felt safe. I felt ‘I’m home.’ ”

Paola emigrated from northern Italy first, then returned briefly to marry Francesco. He joined her in the United States 18 months later after receiving a visa in 1957.

“We made a priority to learn the language,” he said. At age 28, Francesco found adult high school classes boring. So he persuaded officials at Citrus College in Azusa to let him take chemistry and math, and he learned English that way.

In Italy, he had worked in the Fiat aircraft industry. His first job in the United States was cleaning cars for a new car lot. Next, he became an industrial X-ray technician. After seven years of night classes, he earned an associate of arts degree in electronics and designed ways to assemble parts.

“I find out that as long as you work and produce, you always have the respect of the people, no matter what you do,” Francesco said. “We never had a problem because of our accent. Very few people said to us, ‘You doggoned foreigners.’ ”