Wood-burning Pizza business heats up summer

Finding a summer job can be difficult, so two high school students decided to make jobs for themselves.

Brennen Chaput, 15, along with Aiden Lavoie, 15, two Macdonald Cartier students, and Brennen’s father, Rob Chaput, 50, stated a roadside wood-burning pizza business instead of handing out resumes.

The trio started brainstorming in early February after seeing a demonstration of pizza ovens at Costco. They then set out to design a business model and perfect their culinary creation.

The entire venture — financed by Rob Chaput — has grown quite a bit since its opening in June. The small business now employs several other high school students in addition to Brennen and Aiden.

The response has been very good for the short run they have had so far, and the three entrepreneurs plan to continuing with their venture until it gets too cold. They will open the business again next year, with a possibility of franchising in the future.

“It’s been hard work, but it was well worth it and a really fun learning experience,” said Aiden.

Both Brennen and Aiden said the experience has given them better skills in money management and cooking, and, while neither of them sees themselves as restaurateurs in the future, they are very grateful for the experience.

On the food front, simplicity is strength for this business, which features a small, but refined menu of cheese and pepperoni pizza, cheese pizza, meatball calzones and pepperoni calzones. The pizza is made in the style of classic Italian thin crust.

The pizza business is located on Barrydowne Road across from Rona.