Sharon's Pizzigando a True Labor of Love

Phil Papadopoulos has been working in the pizza business for decades and he says working for yourself is better than anything.

“It’s the best way to go,” he said. “It’s a lot of work, but it goes to whatever you put into it. Your hard work isn’t working for someone else.”

Papadopoulos owns Pizzigando Cafe in Sharon.He said he started working at pizza shops in high school and throughout college. He said he went to school for computer programming, but found it difficult to juggle a family with an entry level position.

“I was doing good, but I was already married when I was a senior in college,” he said. “It was difficult to make it on that salary, even though for one person starting out the money was good.”

He said his father and his sister were running a pizza shop in Brighton when he came to the business, but they all saw something better in Sharon.

“In 1988, we bought the Sharon House of Pizza and Upton Coffee Shop,” he said. “In 1995 we moved here, gutted and basically started from scratch.”

Papadopoulos said he loves the business and is looking to buy another location. He said he opened another shop in Brockton in 2005 and ran both shops until 2005, when the landlord bought him to make room for a national company.

“Hotstone Pizza, I opened that from scratch; there wasn’t another restaurant there before,” he said. “It was a lot of hard work, but it is gratifying to see it grow. That’s what I like about new places.”

He added he’s currently working out a deal with another landlord to open yet another restaurant, but he wouldn’t say exactly where.

Papadopoulos said the business is trying at times, but he’s in love with the entire process.

“There is a passion for it,” he said. “You always want to do new things that satisfy your customers. Just to see their satisfaction is really great. There’s really nothing like working for yourself.”

Papadopoulos thought long and hard about what, in his mind, makes a perfect pizza. He said in general, there’s nothing that specifically makes a really good pizza; it’s all or nothing.

“I think it’s the entire process,” he said. “It’s not just one thing. Like when you make the dough you have to allow the dough to rest once you make it. You can’t start cutting it or it will go flat. You have to allow it to ferment and rise a little bit.

"For the sauce, you have use good pear-shaped tomatoes and make sure there are no other ingredients in them as preservatives. Preservatives seem to break down the whole process of the pizza. The cheese has to be as natural as it can be. You have to find somebody that makes cheese themselves; we’re always looking, going to the local trade shows to make sure we find good flour, tomatoes and cheese.”

If you look a the wall at Pizzigando, you’ll see the smiling faces of many a young baseball or football player hung on the wall. Papadopoulos said he feels it’s important to be involved in the community as a small business owner.

“I always belived in being involved in my customers, the community and the town I’m in,” he said. ”I think that’s important, not only for business, but helping the sports teams and the children so they can do all the sports they want. It’s a win win situation all around.”

Pizzigando is located at 1 Pond St. and is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. everyday, but Monday.