New Owner Of Al Capone's Pizza Sees Moose Jaw As A Place Of Opportunity
“Don’t look for problems. There are problems everywhere. Look for opportunities within those problems,” Uttam Prajapati co-owner of Al Capone’s Pizza.
Uttam Prajapati, the new co-owner of Capone’s Pizza, behind the counter.
By Robert Thomas
Moose Jaw is a place of business opportunity and a place where a person can achieve their dreams, says Uttam Prajapati the new co-owner of Al Capone’s Pizza (312 4th Avenue SW).
Uttam, along with his wife Jinal, bought Al Capone’s Pizza from the previous owner in May of this year and see the humble pizza takeout restaurant as the fulfilment of their hard work and dreams of entrepreneurship.
A better life far from where he grew up in Gujarat, India. Gujarat is located in a farming region known for its wheat and rice. It is situated about 1400 kms northwest of New Delhi.
Uttam took time out on Wednesday - between customer orders - to speak to MJ Independent about his new business and the hard work he put into it.
“I feel because it is a lot smaller (than other places) there is a lot more opportunity to start a small business,” he said about choosing Moose Jaw as where to anchor his dream.
“Actually if you look at it this is a place where you can grow your small business. If you take a look at Regina there are already too many businesses.”
As part of this feature we photographed what went into preparing a typical order of cheesy bread and wings.
Cheesy Toast And Wings- prior to the order being placed the dough is made, proportioned out and put away in the cooler by head cook Lonnie Ashton. The dough is wrapped individually to maintain the proper moisture.
Although he originated in India Uttam said he is sticking with the original Al Capone’s menu with a few additions - butter chicken pizza and taco pizza have been added to the menu. He is also looking at possibly adding some desserts in the future.
Al Capone’s is not planning to sell Indian food he said adding he felt most Canadians love their pizzas and why move away from something that is most likely to be successful.
“I feel like Canadian people like pizza. This is a common food here, burger and pizza this is the most common food here and so I chose that,” Uttam said.
Although he has only been in business for just over a month Uttam said there are many people who are loyal to Al Capone’s Pizza and he is thankful for that and slowly he is seeing new people come into his restaurant.
He also hired 30 year restaurant veteran Lonnie Ashton as head cook. Ashton, who originally hailed from Vancouver, worked for the restaurant’s original owner thereby ensuring continuity of the menu.
Spreading spices - After the dough has been laid out into the greased pan the spices are spread throughout the cheesy toast
Upbeat might be the understatement to describe Uttam and his feelings about his first ever business venture.
He plans through hard work and determination to succeed at Al Capone’s and someday be successful enough to franchise across Saskatchewan and maybe even beyond.
“I want to be a success first in this particular location but this (franchising Al Capone’s Pizza) is my next dream.”
The same hard work that made it possible for Uttam to get into business.
“When I first came to Canada I worked really hard. I saved money. That is how I was able to start the business. I started from the first day in Canada. I was working really hard. I was working 80 hours a week, 70 hours a week on top of taking some college courses as well,” Uttam said about the hard work he put into someday owning a business.
“It feels great. This is like my dream to become an entrepreneur and I feel like my dream has come true. It feels great. Sometimes it goes up and down but that is all part of business and you can never predict it. It is good though because I can see a lot of opportunity in the future.”
Time For Cheese - The cheese blend is spread evenly over top of the dough.
Uttam, who holds a degree in pharmacy, said entrepreneurship and business is what he has always dreamed of. For him to be successful in life being an entrepreneur and in business makes it easier despite the risks of owning your own business.
“Oh there is a lot of risk. If you don’t make money you will have a lot of problems.”
Despite the risks of being an entrepreneur Uttam has worked for a decade to start his own business.
“Even when I studied pharmacy I did not know where to go in life. But I realized if you want to be like a successful person if you are a businessman it is better to get success compared to like jobs.”
When he first started to think about and saving to own his own business Uttam admits he did not know what type of business he wanted to start but by observation and research decided on owning a pizza business.
“Pizza has such a huge market compared to other restaurants.”
Uttam also knows that just owing a business does not make one successful but an entrepreneur has to work as well and offer what the customer wants to make it.
Off To The Oven - Then the cheesy toast is off into the oven.
Uttam’s business plan is to stay in the more premium pizza market. To be the best. To use the best ingredients and perhaps charge a little bit more but at the same time give the customer good value and the best pizza for their money.
“Everything has a little bit of an effect on the pizza. Let’s say if you don’t have good sauce but you have good dough then people won’t like it…we are to make sure everything is top notch quality.”
He said he has had a good response from customers.
“People love it. They say this is like the best pizza in town. I am not one to compare, my pizza is the best that is all I can say,” he said, adding “my price is a little bit higher compared to other restaurants, but the thing is I give the top quality pizza. It is not like pizza three topping you can get like for $10.”
Asked about the challenges as an immigrant entrepreneur Uttam said he faced the same challenges as all entrepreneurs do such as having enough money in his bank account to buy and run a business.
“You can say though it was hard to find a good business to buy when you don’t know the market,” he said was his toughest obstacle as an immigrant starting their first business.
Done - Head cook Lonnie Ashton takes the cheesy toast out of the oven.
Buying an established business, with an established clientele is key to his business philosophy. To keep his clientele means continuing to provide the same menu they like and do some small additions to help build growth, he said.
“If you go with a new business there is a very high risk. If you buy an established business there is a low risk. To start a new business is going to cost you a lot of money. To buy an established business you can get it for a little less money. You know you have so much customer flow. You may not make money but you will not lose the money.”
Being on South Hill at the top of the 4th Avenue Bridge for Uttam is a prime location.
“Actually this is the best location. You can see a lot of incoming and outgoing traffic. It has easy access to the city.”
Clean Up - No job is done until the area is cleaned up. Head cook Lonnie Ashton cleans the counter it is something he says needs to be done throughout his shift.
“I want to have the people (customers) who can spend a little bit of money and have a decent quality of pizza.”
The old menu is still in high demand with the Little Chicago All Meat - pepperoni, ham and sausage - is the most popular menu item but people are slowly starting to try the butter chicken pizza which he introduced to the menu as well.
“I am not going to change anything from the original menu. I’m just going to add a few things to the menu. I am just going to make it a little better and give people more options,” he said.
Battering Up - Uttam Prajapati batters the chicken wings before they are put into the deep fryer.
Uttam’s story is not just about his hard work in order to save up to own his own business.
It is also the story of a 21 year old man who immigrated to Canada, alone without family or good friends here, and what he believes God has been helping him out along the way from the second he disembarked at Toronto’s Pearson Airport.
Asked about first coming alone to Canada was a daunting challenge as he was basically alone
“One of my friends, you could not say close friends he was in Scarborough, Ontario he just said if you cannot find anybody you can come to my home…so when I get off at Pierson Airport I didn’t know where to go…I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t tell my friend ‘I am coming to your house’. Meanwhile I just saw someone from my same community, you cannot say a friend, just someone from the same community and he was just happening to be going to the exact same apartment building,” Uttam said, adding “I said I want to go to Scarborough and it turned out to be the same address. You know I believe in God. You know God helped me.”
Frying - The chicken wings are in the deep fryer cooking.
“I didn’t know how to get to this place and I didn’t know how to get to Oshawa. But you know I had faith in God and everything worked out.”
About coming to Canada he said it was a stressful experience but well worth it.
“I was stressed with the winter in India it is not good for my body. Sometimes I have sneezing, cough and cold but I had a burst of courage about going to Canada that I am going to tackle it.”
From 2012 he worked many jobs and long hours but then decided to come to Saskatchewan in 2016 - despite the weather - for an affordable life and opportunity.
Wings Are Done - The wings are done and after draining any excess oil off of them taken to the cupboard where they are given a dash of lemon juice and boxed up.
“Every place has its pros and cons. If you look at let’s say Ontario it is really hard to live in Ontario. Everything is going higher like real estate and auto insurance. And if you look at Saskatchewan it cheaper for just about everything. It is just about the weather but we can manage it for a better life.”
Moose Jaw is now where his dreams of entrepreneurship has after a decade of hard work finally taken root.
Boxed - The perfectly cooked wings are boxed up and ready to go out with the order.
Al Capone’s Pizza is located at 312 4th Avenue SW telephone (306) 694-3099 for pickup and delivery orders.
Hours:
Monday to Thursday 11 am to 9 pm
Friday 11 am to 11 pm
Saturday 11 am to 10 pm
Sunday 11 am to 9 pm