Tino’s Pizza

Laura Muro has been learning as much as she can about running a business since she opened Tino’s Pizza with her Uncle in the Plaza Vigil. “We sell a variety of different food: sandwiches, pizza, hotdogs, and hamburgers. We use the best quality of products to make the food and offer the high quality food to our clients.” Ms. Muro came to Watsonville in 2000 from Jalisco, México. Ever since she first arrived she wanted to open her own business and learn how to operate it. After working in Watsonville in various jobs for a few years she decided to look into opening up her own business. “I had a little money saved and wanted to progress in life and wanted to learn about business,” Ms. Muro said.

Ms. Muro first heard about the opportunity to open a business in Plaza Vigil from an Uncle. She came to talk with one of the El Pájaro CDC consultants about the possibility of opening up a Mexican food restaurant, but there was no space for another Mexican restaurant. However, there was an opportunity to buy the Pizza Restaurant that was already established in the Plaza Vigil. Along with her Uncle, Ms. Muro decided to take the chance and open the business. “I knew nothing about making pizza when I first started, nothing!” Ms. Muro said with a smile. El Pájaro CDC helped Ms. Muro by finding a chef to give her lessons on making pizza and other non-Mexican food. Now Ms. Muro is an expert at cooking the types of foods that Tino’s Pizza offers. She cooks the food, serves the customers, and does much of the business related work.

Ms. Muro has learned about operating and running a business by taking business workshops from the El Pájaro CDC, receiving technical assistance, and learning from experience. “The business classes helped a lot because I didn’t know how to administrate and run the business in the beginning,” she said, “by starting in the Plaza Vigil I can have more of an idea about how to make things easier for the administration of the restaurant. I didn’t have a clue before.” Ms. Muro is looking forward to learning much more about business administration and running a business more efficiently in order to make Tino’s Pizza even more successful. “I want to get the business going better and better and not just stay at the same level,” she said, “I want to make sure that my customers like the food and will come back.”