Being the Boss

Keeping employees happy has had unforeseen benefits. Nick's controller, Matt Calabrese, 24, started at the restaurant as a bus boy and "bar back" (washing glasses and refilling peanut dishes) when he was a teenager. Later he moved to the kitchen and he came back to work during his breaks from Illinois State University, three hours away in Bloomington-Normal. After Calabrese received his finance degree, he started as a bookkeeper and accountant and quickly became the controller. "Nick is definitely like family to me," he says. "It's how he treats everybody."

Next month, Sarillo will return to NEWSWEEK's Business Edge to discuss construction of his newest Pizza & Pub. The location is still undecided, but he and his brother, architect and general contractor Anthony Sarillo, are already collecting their signature materials--100-year-old, hand-hewn wood beams from rescued Midwestern dairy barns.

If you have questions about the restaurant business for Nick Sarillo or his business partner, Christopher Adams, you can write to them at: nickspizzapub@gmail.com

© 2005