(upbeat music) - Pizza's kind of a uniter.

People of all types can sit down together and enjoy pizza together.

- I've known David for a long time, and we practiced law together, so we were tax lawyers.

So we go from tax law to making pizza, I mean, he figured something out that we all need to figure out.

- This is like community, just a big ball, and then you gotta, we gotta mold in and shape it-- - And then it's gonna turn into something beautiful eventually.

- Yeah, and that's what we doing here.

- So I think what other small businesses can learn from David and what Five Points is doing is to open your doors to truly be inclusive and welcome all of the community.

- We're not here just to make pizza.

We're here to be a business and to make people feel comfortable and welcome here.

It's much more than just serving food to us.

- Now I'm gonna eat this pizza and y'all can watch.

(people laughing) (upbeat music) This is "The Good in Us", and I'm your host, Jerome Moore.

And today, we'll be visiting Five Points Pizza and talking to the owner, David, where he tells us a little more about his entrepreneurship journey, but also how small businesses are the backbones of our communities.

We're gonna be making a little dough, and of course, we're gonna be eating some pizza.

All right, come on with me.

(upbeat music) David, well, I appreciate you allowing me to be here with you to talk more about your journey as an entrepreneur as an owner of Five Points Pizza, but also just giving back to community through entrepreneurship.

- Man, it's great to have you here.

And we're gonna roll a little dough together this morning.

- Look, I got the dough in my hand.

Look, I'm not an expert yet, but hopefully I can get there.

- Gotcha.

- And dough is a little bit like our community, right?

Sometimes it ends up a little wonky, but then we gotta shape it and mold it.

- Shape it up, you turn it into something beautiful, and you just go from there.

- So that's the goal.

We're going to try to make this something beautiful.

No judgment.

(both laughing) - No judgment.

- No judgment.

- No judgment, no judgment.

(upbeat music) - My wife and I were both attorneys, like you had just mentioned, and we were really looking to make a career change.

Really weren't sure what we were gonna do.

I actually ended up quitting my job and went to welding school.

So that was a good way to work with my hands.

This is another good way right here.

There's something fulfilling, I think, about working with your hands.

Looking back on our history, I just don't think we ever felt that as attorneys.

And you get in here and you have a connection with not only your employees, but also you get to know people in the community in general.

- [Jerome] Right.

- And we've made a lot of lifelong friendships down here with just customers and people who've worked here in the past.

- [Jerome] Yeah.

- And I think small business is sort of the bedrock of, especially a community like East Nashville.

Pretty much everybody over here is somehow affiliated with a small business.

- Well, we definitely gonna talk to some community members that support what you all have going on at Five Points.

So I'm excited to see the impact that y'all are having beyond pizza.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And the pizza is pretty amazing.

- Yeah.

- And I'm taking all of this home, by the way, (David laughing) because I made it.

(both laughing) (gentle music) Alright, David, we just made some amazing dough.

I think I got it down.

I have some dough making skills.

- Looking good, looking good.

- W made the community, that's what we, that's the community right there.

- Exactly.

- I got it sticking together.

- Exactly.

- What's next for me?

- I would love to introduce you to a longtime friend of the shop.

- Okay.

- Someone I used to practice law with years ago.

He knows all the secrets around here, so he is good to talk to.

- We want the secrets.

We'll get all the skeletons of the closet of David and Five Points.

(both laughing) - All right, come on, let's go, let's go.

All right, Jerome, it's my pleasure to introduce you to Brett Carter.

- Nice to meet you, Brett.

- Hey, Jerome, good to meet you.

- He's a long time resident, knows all the secrets of the shop.

- We want the secrets, we want the skeletons in the closet, Brett.

- I'm about to bring it out, I'm about to bring it out.

- He bringing out the secrets.

(all laughing) - All right, well, I'll come back to get you in a little bit, but hope you guys a good talk.

- Good to see you.

- Appreciate it.

- Thank you.

- Brett, how's it going?

- It's going all right.

- Now let's get straight to the secrets.

(both laughing) That's right, what's in the sauce?

- [Brett] What's in the sauce?

(upbeat music) - [Jerome] I appreciate you taking the time to talk and I just really want to hear about this.

How has Five Points been a community connector for yourself and-- - [Brett] Yeah, definitely.

- [Jerome] You understand the importance of small businesses in the communities?

What's your thoughts on that?

- Yeah, no, well, I've known David for a long time, and we practiced law together, so we were tax lawyers, so-- - It's exciting.

- We go from tax law to making pizza.

I mean, he figured something out that we all need to figure out.

But I remember when he came to me, he said, Brett, I got this idea.

I'm thinking about this pizza by the slice place.

And I was like, David, I think we need a sandwich place in East Nashville.

And so of course I said, I'm not part of the ownership group because of that.

I missed my opportunity.

- You missed the opportunity.

You should have went pizza, not sandwiches.

- That's right, that's right.

But he and David and Tara and Tanner, right out of the gate, did everything really well.

This is an area where chains don't come in here, meaning this area wants people to start things up from the ground up.

And that's what Five Points did.

And it's been something to really marvel.

because people, our friends across all of Nashville wanna come here.

- When you come to a place like Five Points, you feel like it could have been here for 20 years or so, man, it's just, they've done it all right.

Got the logo, they got these cool signs.

I mean, they just, they treat it, such a family-owned, small business.

And I can kind of go back through and just have these visions of people who were servers here, bartenders here, cooks here.

- [Jerome] Yeah.

- David, he doesn't have kids, but he said, man, I always have about 12, 15 kids.

They treat it like a big family.

- [Jerome] Yeah.

- [Brett] Not only just for the people who work for him, but the people who are in the community too.

I mean, people love this place.

(upbeat music) - All right, Jerome, we got some more people for you to meet.

- Okay, cool.

- So we gotta keep this rolling, so thank you so much, Brett.

- [Brett] Yeah, sounds good, take care.

- Sweet tea gives you superpowers.

(both laughing) - Well, Jerome, I get the pleasure of introducing you to some really special people here in the neighborhood today.

- Okay.

- They're from Empower Tennessee.

They're a advocacy group here.

And I'm gonna turn this over to Kasondra, who can tell you a little bit more about what they do.

- [Jerome] Hey, Kasondra.

- Hey, Jerome, it's great to meet you today.

And it's so exciting to be here at Five Points with David.

We love Five Points here.

So I'm gonna tell you a little bit about Empower Tennessee.

Empower Tennessee is a 30-year-old organization, primarily housed here in East Nashville.

And what we do is we are a center for independent living.

So we help individuals with disabilities meet their independence goals.

And we do that in so many ways, whether it's one-on-one service, whether it's peer support, whether it's information and referral, whether it's through our Access Music City program, which is how we got connected with David and Five Points.

All of these really great things that we do, including our brailling.

- [Jerome] When you think about small businesses, why are they important in working with organizations like Empower Tennessee?

- East Nashville is a growing and booming community, and I think that community aspect is so important in the working together as nonprofits and small businesses, because it allows us to expand that community to more individuals in a variety of ways.

So I think what other small businesses can learn from David and what Five Points is doing is to open your doors to truly be inclusive.

Whether it's making it accessible, whether it's having braille menus, whether it's having a sensory room.

When you open your business, you are making your space open to the whole community.

- It kind of goes down to why we're doing this in the first place.

We're not here just to make pizza.

We're here to be a business and a member of the community, and to make people feel comfortable and welcome here.

It's much more than just serving food to us.

- I've had the privilege not only trying my hand at making pizza dough, but also learning about how David is making a real difference as a small business owner.

It's clear that for him, it's about more than just offering a service.

It's about opening doors, being a community ally, and creating an environment where everyone in the community can thrive.

Alright, y'all ready to get some of this pizza now?

- Yeah.

- Yeah, me too.

So look, that is "The Good in Us", and now we finally get some of this good pizza in us.

All right, appreciate y'all.

Now we gonna eat this pizza, y'all can watch.

(all laughing)