Scarr Pimentel: I didn't know what I wanted to be growing up. I thought it would be an Air Force pilot for whatever. I don't know why I was taking that.
Hi, my name's Scarr Pimentel from New York, New York.
So that used to be the old Cuban sandwich spot my grandma used to take me to. Growing up kept me fat, you know.
I was in fourth grade, and a guy would come in once a month and he would teach us about supply and demand, and I just fell in love with it. I was like, all right, this is what I want to do. I want to own the business. I'm going to be in control. I want to be a boss. At that time, my parents just got rid of their diner, and I liked the camaraderie of having that diner. So I was like, all right, I'll start working in the restaurant.
So I started from the bottom, just started working my way up. I worked in a couple of pizzerias and I was like, alright, this is what, I love this. So I decided to do a slice shop. People would talk me out of me, you're not Italian. Why are you opening up a pizzeria? And I'm just like, what does my race and my color have to do with making pizza? My own family didn't believe in me either, so I was like, really? I was like, all right, I guess I'm going to do this on my own. From day one, I was the one making all the pizza the first year, all of it. I was here for 18, 20 hour days.
A couple times where people come in, they're like, oh, who's the owner? And then people point at me, and then they're like, really? They're like, he's the owner. They couldn't believe I was the owner. He said, he made this great pizza. That's the guy. And I'm like, yeah.
Then another time, there was one guy. He said it was the best that I've ever had. Then when I told him it wasn't made by the Italian, he got pissed and then he walked out. So I was like, all right. I was like, I guess I won't see him no more. And that was it.
I created an environment where everyone's comfortable. Everyone from the hood could come in here, people from Connecticut, come in here and enjoy themselves. That was always my goal, was to have a place where everyone feels welcome. You really need to be in love with what, it's a lot of work, especially if you're putting your last dime into it. You better make sure this is what you really want to do before you put it all in better on yourself. Believe in yourself as good things will happen. You don't like being on camera out here. If you've noticed. All this stuff just attracts attention. People, they don't like attention out here.
