Pizzaland helps out its community

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This article was published 21/09/2020 (1835 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Pizzaland is celebrating its 30th anniversary by giving back to the community.

The local restaurant is giving away pizzas to community organizations around Winnipeg.

Throughout August and September, It has donated to The Missionaries of Charity Manitoba, Agape Table, Lighthouse Missions, with more on the way.

The business was started by Larry Pagdato, who immigrated to Canada from the Philippines with his family. In the 1980s, Pagdato worked for several pizza places in the city, starting out as a driver, then a cook, before managing his own Gondola Pizza location.

Pagdato said he wants to share the company’s success and celebrate 30 years in business by helping others.

“We came to Canada with nothing. (Surviving) this long, it was a big family effort,” Pagdato said. “This is our time to give back. We want to help other people … who might be struggling.”

Pagdato recalls when he started Pizzaland, almost 30 years ago. After working at Gondola for a few years, he figured he had enough experience to run his own restaurant. He tried to get a business loan but was denied by almost every bank in the city.

He had to go through a private investor, who loaned him enough money to buy a storefront. It was a gamble, as interest rates was high at the time, and the struggled to stay afloat in the beginning.

His 1765 Main St. location was originally a Tony’s Pizza franchise. After managing it for a few years, he decided to do things his own way, and converted it to his own brand, Pizzaland. Times were tough, his mom supported the family through various odd jobs, while his brothers, father and other relatives helped around the pizzeria.

Since then, he’s been able to open a second location at 2579 Portage Ave., which is now run by his nephew Chris, even as many small-chain pizzerias close.

Pagdato is thankful for the support he’s received so far.

“I’m very lucky, I’ve got a lot of really good employees. My customers are great, they’re the fuel that keeps me going,” he said.

“I’ve made so many friends over the years … (My customers) started calling me ‘Uncle Larry,’”

Pagdato said, laughing. “Everyone from my nieces, nephews, customers, employees … Everyone calls me Uncle Larry. They’re like my adopted family, that’s how I do business.”

Pagdato said he planned to give away 100 pizzas to different organizations this month but may exceed that number by October. Several organizations have reached out but, at press time, he was still working out the finer details of the donations

He joked that he might be the only Filipino pizzeria in Winnipeg and said he would like to thank everyone for helping his business stay afloat during COVID-19.

For more information, or to order some pizza, visit pizzaland.ca/home