Written by Ian O’Donnell and Jason McLaughlin
With all of the employees starting to prepare the shop for the Wednesday night rush, Frank is overseeing all of the procedures. In a couple of hours, college students and townies will be leaving the bars in a stupor with a craving for some late-night wings. Lots of them are going to be craving one of the more popular food spots in town: Frank’s Pizza.
Frank’s is not only a place for food but is also known to be a fun hangout for Bloomsburg students after a night of drinking. Frank, the owner, loves the interaction that comes along with the college students on party nights.
“Bloomsburg is my favorite town to have a shop in,” Frank said. “It feels like there is a community here and I can have a relationship with my customers.” Of course, when business owners are on a first name basis with many of their customers, it can be very easy to feel that way about any town.
Believe it or not, Frank’s in Bloomsburg is just one of many locations. “I opened up my first shop about 6 or 7 years ago in South Orange, New Jersey,” he said. He went on to list several different pizza shops he owns across New Jersey as well as locations in Reading, Quakertown, Englewood, and York. Frank had wanted to start his own pizza shop soon after he came to the states. He began as an accountant when he immigrated to America but soon realized he wanted more. Being in the land of opportunity, he had the idea to start his own pizza chain. He started Frank’s and he never looked back.
Frank was Born in Italy and raised in Egypt. He first moved to the United States around 2000. The primary reason for his decision to come to the U.S. was for a better education. One of the more difficult challenges that he faced was learning the language.
Although Frank took a few English classes, he mostly learned through immersion. “I think the hardest part for anyone moving to another country is the language barrier,” Frank began, “because when you don’t know the language too well you can sound really stupid and it’s very annoying.” English can be one of the hardest languages to learn but he stuck it out. He learned through everyday conversations with people. From coming to Egypt knowing no english, he has learned to have conversations with all of his customers.
Frank said that the biggest difference between America and Egypt is that “America is all about hard work. The people over there are very lazy.” Frank did not mind putting in the hard work to achieve success.
After about 10 years of adjusting and working long hours to earn an honest living, Frank was able to scrape up enough dough to open his own shops and he has loved it ever since.
Culture Shock 