At ezCater, we’re inspired by chefs and restaurant operators who take their passion for food and catering and turn it into a career. As a partner who helps them build their catering business, we’re proud to share their stories with you. This is Antonio Pereira’s Restaurant Roots.

If you ask Antonio “Tony” Pereira about his outlook on life, he’ll tell you the only sure thing is that everybody’s going to wake up craving something. That’s one reason why he fell in love with the restaurant business—he knows that people are going to eat, and he loves nourishing them. Antonio’s passion for feeding people is so strong that it inspired him to open Tasty Cafe. At his restaurant, he serves good vibes, tasty food, and catering. Here’s the story behind Antonio Pereira’s Tasty Cafe.

Discover more “Restaurant Roots” stories celebrating chefs, restaurant operators, and catering.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Antonio Pereira: My father was in the food business. So, like my kids follow me now, I followed my dad. I went to work with him as a little kid and as a cashier and then I became a baker. I liked what he did, and I’m going to try to be as good as he is, and grow on it, and build on it.

So I fell in love with the business, and I fell in love with the business because you know that people are going to eat all the time. That’s the one given in life—is that everybody’s going to wake up craving something. Being in the food business, it’s not for everybody, but if you’re going to do it, do it with a passion. Do it because you love it.

Tasty Cafe is a diner-style location where you can get a great breakfast, great lunch. But it’s the only place where you can get a francesinha sandwich. I’m Portuguese. I came here when I was ten years old. One of the traditional plates of Portugal is the francesinha. And it’s now a staple on the Tasty menu—thanks to my vision of bringing something from Portugal to the U.S. that nobody else has.

When you run a business, of course, everybody wants to make money, but you need to create an environment where people are happy to come into work. To me, it’s people, people, people. It’s the customers you serve, and it’s the people that serve your customers. I’m just a small piece of this big puzzle. I come in and I motivate my staff and I respect them, and I appreciate everything they do and I thank them every day. These people have an unbelievable skill set. They’re phenomenal. They’re always working. They’re always upbeat. That to me is more important than anything. At the end of the day, if they’re happy, you hit a home run.