Dons bring their businesses to town

Amicis, Pasta Pasta, Urban Flame, we all know of the restaurants that make up our community. However, we are not aware that many of these businesses are owned by family members of Aragon students.

Being part of a family owned business seems to come with a handful of attention. Sophomore Josefina Beto’s mom and aunt own and operate Morning Glory, a clothing boutique on Burlingame Avenue. “A lot of people think I’m lucky because of it.” She says, “It’s definitely positive attention because a lot of people like it. Some people I don’t know ask me about it and we later become friends because of it.”

Senior Eleni Prontzos’s dad owns a supermarket, Mayflower, in Pacific Heights, San Francisco. “It has the best sandwiches in the city!” she says, adding, “attention’s always positive because we have a good reputation.”

While her sister, freshman Angelika Prontzos, agrees, she also brings up another perspective. “The attention’s great because it’s fun, but people always come up to us and ask for free sandwiches and we obviously can’t because that would be bad for the business. ”

Sophomore Ayah Hamdan’s dad owns Urban Flame, a Mediterranean restaurant in San Mateo. “A lot of my friends like it,” she says, “They ask to help out on the weekends.”

Furthermore, parent businesses not only socially improve students’ lives but provide perks for the family. Sophomore Alison Clark’s dad owns Adaptive Technology Services, a business that makes computers, phones, and other technological devices accessible to the blind. “It’s really good for him,” she says, “It gives him the freedom to do something he loves and the flexibility to plan his schedule and make it to my sporting events and school activities. Plus he doesn’t have to work for disgusting bosses who make him work overtime.”

An easily shaped schedule is all the more accessible with a personally written agenda and people who conform to it, “The business revolves around my dad and uncles,” says Eleni Prontzos, “It’s very family oriented and keeps us all close.”

Along with the added perks of a schedule that can be monitored to personal liking, socially appealing benefits are uncovered through customers’ relationships with the business owners. “A lot of customers become friends with us and give us resources to things. Like this one time, a woman gave us a key to her beach house in Carmel for a weekend,” says Beto.

“One time he needed to test out iPhones for accessibility”, Clark adds about one of her dad’s businesses experiments. “He bought one as a part of the test and I got to keep it afterwards.”

Hamdan agrees, explaining her own personal encounter with the impact of a private owned business. “I’m new to this school this year and the principal somehow got introduced to my dad’s restaurant,” she says, “She convinced the varsity coach to allow me to try out for volleyball. And since my dad had the connection with the staff of Aragon, I was able to have a successful volleyball year at Aragon, and I don’t know if I would have been able to be encouraged to try out if it wasn’t for that.”

Financially, private owned parent businesses seem to be better for the community, Aragon, and the family.

“We’re connected with Aragon,” says Hamdan, “My dad had a fundraiser at Urban Flame last week! He had the jazz ensemble come perform and he donated 20% of his earnings for the night to Aragon Jazz Ensemble.”

“It’s recession proof” includes Eleni Prontzos, “people don’t always go out to restaurants but they get groceries! It supports all of our families and its where we get all our food from, it makes it so none of the moms in the family have to work!”

Beto agrees, rejoicing in the all the money she’s saved. “Free clothes! Free clothes, that’s number one,” she says.

“Sometimes we have technology issues and we don’t have to pay for them, we can just get them fixed,” says Clark.

Both socially and financially, parent owned businesses seem to positively benefit families and the societies in which they are immersed, including the school community. They create a business that fits the family’s needs spot on, which is highly appealing in the stress of the modern working life.