David and Brenda Losole - Virtuoso Pizzeria
MARCH 18, 2020 © Right Here, Right Now.
“I’m grateful to be able to still be up here making pizzas and It’s a bittersweet grateful because, I have a lot of chef friends and restaurant people that are just completely shut down, so I’m grateful that I have a product that I can do with a skeleton crew and that people will still want. I don’t know if it will sustain me but it’s keeping me sane right now so I’m good for that, I’m grateful for my sanity.
I’m worried about the economy, I’m worried about the older people in my family you know? My mom, my dad, her aunts, they’re all up there in age. I guess it's the millennials that are probably the key to staying home and not spreading it, but I mean the world’s not going to stop but it sure seems like it has.
Food lets you take your mind away from the reality that is this invisible thing we got going on here, but you get to smell things, you get to have memories of what made you start loving food, you get to put a smile on a face for eating the food. It definitely makes you take your mind off of it when you're mixing some dough up or some sauce, these are things that are positive for the mind right now, at least for me.
I hope the guests get a sense of normalcy, the things they’re accustomed to getting, they can. That human interaction of being able to be out of the house and getting something familiar, providing a smile or something warm to somebody that’s not having to prepare it at their house. And honestly, you know, the chance to fight and stay in business…I tell my wife the biggest thing we have to do, and in every business…not just us, but I can only worry about me...is trying to lean on me and my resources and the things that I know for as long as I have versus the government or some other people. So to be able to come in here and still be able to do it, and have a product that still people can move and it's easy, we don’t have to touch a lot of people, we’re switching to plastic, I’m getting a food app. Things to make it easier to get food on the go because let’s face it, the world is afraid right now, afraid to go out, afraid to touch people, doors, do anything, they don’t want to breathe on anybody. So if we can offer them these services that minimize that and a little bit of comfort at that time, then I’m good.
I guess I always try to be a half-full kind of guy, so sometimes the worst things that can happen to you are actually a blessing in disguise and your true path gets discovered when all the shit goes down and you’re like...you know what? I actually landed in a better spot. So be an optimist and go with the flow. I mean you can go with it or you can go kicking and screaming, and in the end, you go “I made it” but yeah, you kicked and screamed the whole way…just fall back and float.
People want to go out, they want to have a sense of community and normalcy and in a way, they’re like “Oh my god, everything’s getting taken away” There’s no social gathering…the new word is what? Social distancing? You’re fifteen feet from me trying to take this interview with right now (Laughs), he’s got a pole if you guys can see this, it’s insane but…you know. It is crazy, I never thought this would be something we would be discussing. I worry about business on the daily, and you're just like, “Do we have enough customers, do we have enough exposure, are we putting out the right product”? Then you finally feel like you’re starting to do that, and then all of the sudden it ain’t really going down like you thought it was.
