(upbeat music) - [Woman] This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you, thank you.

- [Narrator] "It's Your Business" with Michael Aikens, is brought to you by WCTE PBS and the Center for Rural Innovation with funding provided by the Economic Development Administration through the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Stability Act.

This series was produced under an agreement, with Tennessee Tech University Center for Rural Innovation through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Stability Act.

- Welcome to "It's Your Business," I'm your host, Michael Aikens.

Where do you go to celebrate a new job, a graduation, or an anniversary?

One of your favorite local restaurants right here in the Upper Cumberland.

On this episode, we're taking a look at two local restaurant owners, hearing their stories, and eating some great food along the way.

So let's get started.

(upbeat music) Tony Nigro grew up in and around the kitchen, and has a lifelong passion for cooking delicious food.

In 2017, he made the job, like all entrepreneurs, and open Big Tony's Pizzeria right here in the Upper Cumberland.

Tony and I spoke about the generational love of making food, leadership, and influence in business, and his journey to realizing his dream.

(upbeat music) I'm here at Big Tony's Pizzeria, with none other than big Tony himself.

Thank you so much for having us and welcome to the show.

- You're welcome, and thanks for being here at my house.

- So let's get right down to it.

Tell us about Big Tony's Pizzeria.

- Well, this was a dream of mine for last 25-30 years, but my wife and I worked for a federal government, and she liked the security of the steady paycheck and the benefits.

So, we kept doing that, but once I retired, three years ago, we decided to follow this dream.

And it's not a dream of making a lot of money, it's just a dream of doing what I really enjoy, which is cooking.

- So you said you worked in federal government before, what was that experience like?

I was with FEMA and then Homeland Security for 27 years.

We were a federal catastrophe adjusters, we ran all over the country, but mostly between the Mississippi in the coast from Florida to Maine.

- So we think about natural disasters, obviously we're still kind of in one with the pandemic.

Now I understand that something very unique about your business, your restaurant.

But through the pandemic you never closed and, you never lost an employee.

How did you do this?

- That was my wife.

She tried to come up with ways to grow our business, or at least keep it at a status quo, and help the people that were at home.

And, I always tell people especially my employees, that when people are trapped in their house like that.

Monday mom's making a pork roast, and Tuesday she's making a chicken, and Wednesday she's making something else, but Thursday she's had it.

And she wants to order out.

And there's not a lot of takeout food, that travels well and feeds a family of four or five people better than pizza pasta garlic naans.

- So you've stayed open, but what are some of the innovations that you had from a business perspective that not a lot of people may have seen.

- We started handling the delivery ourselves.

So we had a lot more control over getting our product to the customer, in a way that they would still want it.

I wanted my stuff as soon as it came out of the oven on the road.

So our delivery portion of the business really grew.

That was a really positive thing that came out of this.

- You're really ingrained in your community.

What's the linkage and importance of an entrepreneur to their community?

- These people supported me during the pandemic.

And I wanna support them as much as possible.

So, that's my idea on the whole thing.

Also, going back to my days in with Homeland, and being out in these disaster areas.

I was always happy to get bottled water, or even an old burger.

When the tornadoes hit last year, we were right there, providing personal pizzas to all the checkpoints, in town for the first responders.

We had a big help out the tornado victim banquet right here, and any tornado victim, any first responder that wanted to get fed for free, we did it.

And then we took the leftovers to the hotels that they were staying at.

Part of it was selfish, because two of my best friends were affected in this.

They both lost their houses completely.

One of their daughters was lifted up, and dropped it in a pool nearby.

Thank God she's safe and completely unharmed.

But that's part of what we do, part of what we wanna be.

- Clearly, you're doing your part for the community.

What advice would you give to up and coming entrepreneurs that are looking to give back.

- Fund a niche of kids, that will be responsible for what you're trying to do, and be interested in what you're trying to do.

And work with them, bring them along, don't worry if they have experience or not.

As far as the local community, there's always places to give back in this community.

And so we're constantly looking for that.

Sometimes it's just somebody down on his luck.

He comes in, "I got $5, what can I get for that?"

And we just feed them.

That's not a big deal.

Sometimes it's 15 pies to the hospital.

And sometimes it's more to the police.

I think if you interviewed any policemen in Cookeville, you'd find out that we take care of our guys.

Police, fire department EMTs.

And a big shout out to my EMTs, 'cause I had a stroke right here in this restaurant, and they were right on the spot to come get me.

So, here I am still.

- What would you say the most important resource in your business is?

- It's the employees.

When you get a good employee, and you have one that is interested in his work, and conscientious, it takes a lot off of my shoulders.

And these young men that I have working here, are so conscientious.

That they care about what they do, they care about my product.

And so I'm very happy to have them as long as I can have them.

I've had some of them here for three and four years, or going into their fourth year, watch them graduate.

Actually had one graduation party right here, from one of them, who had relatives coming in from out of state during COVID.

So I care about them but they care about me.

And they care about my product.

I feed every one of my employees, every shift they work.

And that goes a long way.

It teaches them, everything we have on the menu, how to make it right, and how to make it for my customers.

Because trust me, if they make something wrong, I ask them, "Would you eat that?

Would you wanna take that home?"

And if the answer is no, I'd say, "Well then would you make it for my customer that way?"

All right, and so, when it comes to quality of food, I'm at the mercy of these young men I've hired.

And so I have to have the right kind of kids, with the right training that I train them.

And then I have to hope that they care about what they do, and these kids do.

- So you're supporting your employees, you're training them, what would you say your philosophy on leadership is?

- More responsibility on the table, makes that person the most important.

And I try to just be the facilitator.

I'm not the main chef in the back, I just try to help them complete their task.

We have some boys that take a lot more responsibility on, and they delegate down to the younger boys.

So I have college level kids, that delegate down to the upper high school aged kids all the way down.

And it seems to work.

I'm gonna be sad when I have to start rotating them out, 'cause I have kids that are going on to a master's programs in other states.

So, it's gonna be hard to replace them.

But, the young kids are starting to grow themselves, and hopefully they're gonna to step into that role, and then I have to get younger kids again.

- So this statement do what you love, and you'll never work another day in your life.

Does that apply to you?

- Oh, Absolutely, absolutely, I worked 27 years with the federal government, so it wasn't fun, then I got out.

My last assignment was three months long, it lasted 11.

I told my wife, I said, "That's it I've had it, I'm done.

I'm not coming back."

And she said, "Let's do this, this is what you always wanted."

She found this location.

She had been driving past it.

Saw the lease, signed, talked to the owner.

We together started this business, and the food it's mine.

But it's been successful because the boys have made it theirs.

- So let's take a step back, originally from New York, working with FEMA all over the south-east, now you're in the Upper Cumberland in Cookeville.

How did you get here?

- I was at a meeting.

I was wanting to move my family of nine children to the South.

And I was at a meeting, we were all wearing name tags.

This gentleman walked up to me and his name tag said, "Bob from Cookeville, Tennessee."

And I had looked in Tennessee, I'd looked in Waverley and Dixon.

I'd looked in North Carolina and Kentucky, because all my fellow colleagues in FEMA had said, "Oh go to the South biggest bang for your buck in dollar wise."

And I always wanted to raise the kids on a farm.

Well, I said, "Hey, Bob, where's Cookeville, Tennessee?"

And he looked at me right in the eye and said, "God's country."

(laughs) So I said "Well, I can't go wrong with that."

- So one of your greatest passions is food.

What's the secret to your good food here at Tony's - (chuckles) Love, we love to make it.

We're not in it for the money, which is a good thing.

So we can use the best products on the market.

My reason for starting the restaurant was because I have four of my eight grandchildren, in the area.

And I envisioned them working in my restaurant.

But I want people to love the food, so I use the best products on the market.

We try to find whatever's out there, sausages from Chicago, the dough we make every single day.

The sauce, we make it, we don't take it out of a cannon throw it on your pie, we make it ourselves.

Our menu is not huge, but everything on it, I'm proud to serve.

If I'm not proud to serve it, it doesn't stay on the menu.

So, that's the key behind the whole thing.

- So you got great food, you're expanding, you've even got your grandkids working here.

What's the future for Big Tony's Pizzeria?

- Well, I hope to slow down, do a little less experiment a little more in the kitchen.

But really let kids run the place and just facilitate that, and enjoy my taproom a little bit more.

- Tony, thank you so much for being on the show, Let's dig into this pizza.

- Absolutely (foreign language) (upbeat music) - Cassie Hood has held just about every job, a person can have in the restaurant industry.

She started working at a local diner as a teenager, and always knew she wanted to start a restaurant of her own.

(upbeat music) I'm here at The Stolen Coin Oyster Bar & Bistro, in downtown Gainesboro Tennessee, with owner and founder, Cassie Hood.

Cassie, thank you so much for being on the show.

- Oh, thank you for having me, this is an honor.

- So The Stolen Coin has been here for about eight months now, you started out in July, what's your experience so far been like?

- It's definitely been different than any other opening of a restaurant that I've ever been a part of.

I've had the privilege of opening many different types throughout my career.

But definitely in 2020, we kinda had to change the playbook a little bit.

As opposed to like a mass marketing, and a grand opening, and all of the kind of hoot and holler that goes along with larger staff, and an opening of a restaurant.

We kinda went opposite, we kind of were slowly building it while everybody was locked down.

And then in July, when everybody kind of started coming out, we slowly opened, it helped get our staff way more acclimated.

'Cause you weren't on a weight every day.

And then just, we've let the word of mouth kind of spread through, which has been amazing.

'Cause then we've just kind of grown with it, as it's gone through the past eight months.

So, we feel very well prepared now for what's to come in the future.

- What is your view on innovation and entrepreneurship?

How does that play in with the pandemic, opened the restaurant, and your personal philosophy?

- What we've kind of diners taken in, what's the silver lining in finding, what will work in a restaurant for this time?

Right now, transparency is a big thing.

Like people are concerned about where your food comes from, who's handling it, how it's being touched.

Our entire kitchen, is the whole one wall, is encased in glass from the outside.

So you can literally come outside, and stand out there and watch them.

I think it makes people feel comfortable, it helps people see what's going on on the day-to-day basis.

We're very transparent so the customers make them feel as comfortable as possible.

- So you moved up here to start your dream place.

Now you've been Pittsburgh, in Florida and now Gainesboro Tennessee.

How'd you find yourself here?

- It's just a great little town.

And we thought where can we put it, it would be appreciated, and loved and taken in.

Because when you get into these bigger cities, it becomes a restaurant of convenience.

Yes, there are amazing places that you wanna go to specifically.

But unfortunately some of the bigger cities have been taken over by chain places.

And so a little family owned place here in Gainesboro would help the town, would help us, it was just all around, just seem like the best fit for us.

- Now, I understand that, you have a lot of transparency, in this process.

You're importing fresh foods, importing fresh meats and oysters.

Tell us a little bit more about what that looks like.

- Seafood gets shipped from all over the United States.

And obviously being in Florida, not every single piece of seafood comes from Florida, it has to come other places.

So we've learned that it gets shipped to Knoxville, Atlanta, et cetera, et cetera, and then get shipped out.

So what we've done is we've been able to capture it here, as soon as it lands in Tennessee, we have it shipped directly to us.

We get trucks three times a week, so we're always in rotation of the freshest seafood.

Oysters all up and down the East coast and West coast, we have a supplier that calls us twice a week, and tells us what they're dredging, what they're shipping out, so we're able to kinda capture onto that and bring it here.

And be able to deliver it here at Tennessee, for probably cheaper than what you would spend for it on the Florida coast for sure.

- So to the aspiring entrepreneurs that may be watching the show right now, what advice would you give to them?

- This is the time to do it.

Like now is the time to do it.

There is amazing money out there, especially for new businesses, or new ideas.

And unfortunately there are a lot of businesses that have gone out of business because of everything that happened.

And there are major voids that need to be filled now.

And in small towns like this, they are eager with open arms to have bring you in, and help you, bring their town to life.

There is tons out there for you.

You just literally just need to get over your fear, like I had, like he'd have, like lots of people had, and just do it.

You will be very happy you did.

- So there's a lot of exciting things happening right now, you're utilizing the resources.

Let's look into the future, what does the future hold for Cassie and The Stolen Coin?

- Lots I hope, we've been very fortunate enough to have like such a great response.

Such great local support that we're actually expanding, we're building a bar on our second floor, which is amazing, that should be open shortly.

And we're even looking at ventures, to do another location somewhere.

Because we are just already within the first year outgrowing our space.

So, which is an amazing problem to have I might say.

So, the future, looks great.

I'm hoping a couple more, different type of restaurants not the same theme, but wonder The Stolen Coin umbrella.

And we just do different ones, in different communities, so everybody can get a little benefit of having a small mom-and-pop restaurant in their town.

- So, you've got the day-to-day operations, you're growing, you're expanding, all these great things are happening.

How do you deal with all this?

How do you manage this personally and have a personal life?

- Well, you don't, you don't have a personal life.

Anybody who's in the restaurant business, knows you don't have a personal life.

You really have to be a certain sort of person to be in this business.

There is no 40 hour work week.

There is no clock out at 5:00 p.m, there is none of that.

So, some weeks, we'll work 85 hours, 90 hours, Some weeks it'll be a little quieter, We can work little 60 hours or something but, this is our personal life right now, this restaurant and everything is like our love, our passion, we're like pouring our soul in it.

- What's the most gratifying thing you think?

- Okay, this is a funny, like way to put this but, you go through the day, and it's crazy, and it's just all the hubbub of like the day and stuff.

But at the end of the day, when you close up and you guys are just kinda cleaning, and it's our little family stuff and like, the servers are counting the tips they made, and the cooks are talking about the dishes they created and stuff like, that's my favorite part.

Like just at the end of the day, they know that like we served great food.

The people that were here loved it so much, servers made money, the cooks are proud of themselves like, that really is the best part for sure.

- So it's family but I'd want you to say you would also agree it's art too, isn't it?

- It is, there is a certain technique for it.

I think that's what gets a lot of people in trouble, with restaurants is, there is some sort of art to it with how the servers move, and with the hosting, and the food and the food running, and just how everything is kinda put together, can kinda be like a show.

And especially because at all times which I tell my servers, and staff all the time is, "People always watching you.

You are literally on stage the entire time.

So you wanna smile, you wanna be happy, you wanna make sure 'cause you may think might be over in the corner nobody can see you, but they definitely can."

- So what is your philosophy with this restaurant?

- Okay, so can go one of two things.

When you're opening a new restaurant or a new business, you either find a hole that's missing.

It like some sort of regional food, something that's majorly missing from that town, and you shoot for that.

Or you do you find thing and you just do it the best you possibly can.

So what we do if we kind of honed in, and we do a couple of things, just really really well.

We focus on our gumbo, our po'boys, our oysters and our shrimp.

And we just try to do those very, very, very well.

You know you're gonna get a good product, you know what it's gonna taste like, every time you come in, and we just try to master those as much as possible.

You can have chicken sandwiches, you can have burgers, you can all that kind of stuff.

But when you're trying to develop something, just that one thing, and just do it the best you possibly can.

Better than anybody else does.

- Well, how does innovation, play into your resiliency strategy?

- Well, resilience is a big thing.

You never know what life's gonna throw at you.

I mean, since 2018, we've lost a business, and had Corona virus.

And here we are in 2021, expanding.

We're building a bar upstairs, looking for other opportunities.

So, I just think that, you're always gonna have hurdles thrown at you.

You're always gonna have things that are going to try and get in your way.

And it's how do you pick yourself up, put your big girl pants on, and you go back out there, because you're only going to learn, from each experience.

Don't let a bad experience knock you down.

Because that is not the end.

That is absolutely not the end.

You use that, and you become smarter with the next one.

And then you get smarter with the next one.

And then there you are 10 years down the road of looking like a genius.

- So Cassie, thank you so much for being on the show, last question for you.

What would you personally like to tell to our viewers?

- I would like to tell you, that whatever life has thrown at you, whether it's last year, whether it's 10 years ago.

There are wonderful, wonderful wonderful opportunities out there for you.

There is amazing support, there is amazing funding, There is lots of great things, out there for you.

And now I believe, of all times is the best time to rebuild.

People are looking to fill this empty spaces, with new businesses.

I think the public in general, is more on board to support the local person, as opposed to the chain place.

Like we all have that American dream of having your own business, your own life, providing for yourself.

And I think 2021 is definitely the time.

Whether you take all the government funding, and all of the resources and you find a great little town, that could really benefit from it.

And you have no idea how far you can go for sure.

- Cassie, and amazing story, wonderful food here.

Love your passion, thank you so much for being on the show.

- Yeah, you're welcome.

Thanks for having me is great.

(upbeat music) - Hi, my name is Payton Womack and I am the Chief Researcher at the Tennessee Tech Center for Rural Innovation.

It's been a year, since the COVID-19 shutdown, that affected so many small businesses in our community.

As we've seen through this show, small businesses and entrepreneurs alike, have shown things of resilience and innovation, during this time.

As part of the applied research through Tennessee Tech, my team and I have begun to explore, the effects of the pandemic, as well as the economic shocks involved.

These economic shocks can be seen as the health crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As well as the community impacts of natural disasters.

Like the tornado that devastated our area last March.

These shocks can significantly affect the economic prosperity of our area.

Likewise, these shocks can also impact our small businesses, and entrepreneurs.

As they are the backbone of the Upper Cumberland region.

As a resource, to our Upper Cumberland community.

And through the CARES Act, we will be conducting some exciting research with you.

The small business owners and entrepreneurs of our community.

We want to hear your stories, and understand what strategies helped you, and your business survive the pandemic.

Coming soon, you have the opportunity, to let your voice be heard, and have a direct impact upon your community.

We're doing this to better understand resiliency, in our region in order to better serve you.

Our champions at economic prosperity.

More information will be coming soon, from Tennessee Tech and WCTE.

- Thanks for tuning in to "It's Your Business."

For more information on today's topics, and extended interviews, please visit the WCTE website.

For small business resources and expert assistance at no cost, visit the Business Resource Collective @brcollective.org.

Until next time, I'm Michael Aikens.

(upbeat music) (soft music) - [Narrator] "It's Your Business" with Michael Aikens is brought to you by WCTE PBS.

And the Center for Rural Innovation with funding provided by the Economic Development Administration through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Stability Act.

This series was produced under an agreement, with Tennessee Tech University Center for Rural Innovation through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Stability Act.

(upbeat music) - [Woman] This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you, thank you.