Esther: Welcome back to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard hear and online at the BusinessMakers.com/overtime. I'm Esther Steinfeld.

Katie: And I'm Katie Laird.

Esther: And we're back with the Chapter 2 you do not wanna miss. Our guest today is Bessilyn Piazza. She actually is the owner/proprietor of a restaurant called the Italian Café. It's located in Seabrook, Texas and it's a fabulous little spot. She also has a really cool story, which I don't wanna give away and I -

Katie: It's awesome.

Esther: And I don't even know enough to give it away, but I don't even wanna -

Katie: Can we just say it's out of this world?

Esther: It's literally out of this world. She's gonna tell us all about it in this chapter. So welcome to the show Bessilyn.

Bessilyn: Well thank you, Esther. Thank you for having me.

Esther: Absolutely.

Bessilyn: I'm delighted to be here.

Esther: It's great. This is a long time coming. We actually tried some of your little desserts and your Italian wedding cookies several weeks ago; maybe about two months ago and we were just blown away. They're delicious.

Katie: We were smitten.

Esther: So tell us a little bit about your restaurant. How exactly did you come up with this idea?

Bessilyn: Well, my husband and I started the restaurant 21 years ago.

Esther: Wow; congratulations -

Katie: Excellent; wow.

Bessilyn: Well it was just putting our heads together. He's always been in the restaurant business, but he decided that it was time for us to go to Clear Lake 'cause we're native Houstonians. Found the location and he was the creator. He's the one that did all the dishes and I followed in his footsteps, but I really bypassed the kitchen. I went straight to the office.

Katie: Okay.

Bessilyn: So I'm the head and one and only office personnel, but restaurant hours are long and hard, but also fun. So even though we've been there 21 years I tell everybody it's really like 42 years.

Katie: Exactly.

Esther: Of course. So how appropriate that you would be on the Overtime Show 'cause I'm sure -

Bessilyn: Yeah; that's right. A lot of overtime -

Katie: That's your life. The Overtime Show -

Bessilyn: A lot of overtime; exactly.

Esther: So I know you mentioned that this isn't your first restaurant business.

Bessilyn: Right.

Esther: Have you always been with the Italian cuisine or how did the Italian Café in particular come to life?

Bessilyn: Well between my husband and I and family recipes we decided that we were gonna go Italian. We're both Italian of course.

Esther: Excellent.

Bessilyn: So we combined the recipes from the families and we thought well this is really great and Italian food is very, very popular, even back then and it seems to have worked for us.

Esther: So what about your clientele? Is it more of a regular group? Do you see the same kind of people coming in all the time?

Bessilyn: Oh, absolutely. We have the neighborhood business, the people that come in three and four times a week literally.

Esther: Wow.

Bessilyn: They call it their home away from home.

Esther: Oh, that's so nice.

Bessilyn: And when they come in my husband and I feel that they're coming to our home because we're there so much and it just delights us when they come through the door. We just get real excited. Sometimes we're exhausted by the early evening, but when we see people come in we get delighted. So we rev up again and -

Esther: Exactly.

Bessilyn: Yeah; have a great time.

Esther: That energy just recharges you. So we've talked to a lot of different local business owners that really take pride in these community activities, really being more than just the restaurant on the corner or the business on the corner. What are some ways that you've been able to make those connections with people beyond amazing food? How are you out there in the community?

Bessilyn: Well they know that they can always count on us. We like to give back to the community with donations when they have some charitable event. On the most part that's what we pride ourselves in, giving back.

Esther: Okay.

Bessilyn: If we know a particular family member is sick, been hospitalized we go overboard. We send food.

Esther: Oh wow.

Bessilyn: 'Cause that's what we do; that's what we are -

Esther: It's family.

Bessilyn: So that's our thing.

Katie: That's wonderful.

Esther: What about advertising or just getting your name out there? What do you guys do to publicize yourselves?

Bessilyn: Well in our particular case, it started 21 years ago. We waited for the word of mouth. That was the slowest, but it has been the surest.

Esther: I'm sure. Raving fans are the best advertising.

Katie: Exactly.

Bessilyn: Absolutely. We really didn't and still don't do much advertising. We still depend on word of mouth and it's still working.

Esther: But you guys have sort of taken to the internet. I see you have a great website. You have ways to contact you through the internet. I don't know if a lot of restaurants, especially restaurants that have been around for so many years have really crossed over into this online space. How has that been for you?

Bessilyn: Well it's been great because your earlier segment, Constant Contact, we subscribe to Constant Contact.

Esther: Do ya'? Yeah; they're perfect for small business -

Katie: Aw, great.

Bessilyn: Yes. We have a database of probably 2,800. We send out weekly e-mails letting them know about cooking classes, specials, events that are going on every week. That's been a great tool.

Katie: Fantastic.

Katie: Now you said 2,800. That is a wonderful database for a local business. That's amazing.

Bessilyn: Yes.

Katie: So let's talk cookies.

Bessilyn: Okay.

Katie: What is the story besides the fact that they're tasty, delicious and Esther and I almost got into a fist fight over who got the last one, which we actually didn't?

Bessilyn: I did send more -

Katie: But they're good enough -

Bessilyn: I did send more today -

Katie: You did; you did; on the table -

Esther: They're sitting on the table and they -

Katie: Don't think we haven't noticed.

Esther: First of all, yeah, tell us about the cookies themselves and how they even came into existence.

Bessilyn: I would love to because it's a wonderful tribute to my mother who is now deceased. She made the cookies for us for many years at the restaurant. Once it got to be too much, I took it over for her and out of all of this with the astronaut requesting the cookies; it's just a tribute to my mother.

Esther: That's beautiful.

Bessilyn: But it's a very simple cookie. It's just that everybody loves it. It's no deep, dark secret in the recipe. I promise.

Esther: Okay; well you kinda' spilled the beans a little bit there. You mentioned the astronauts. Exactly what are you talking about there?

Bessilyn: Well I got a phone call, which I knew that the astronaut, Colonel Kramer who was on the international space station, mentioned to me about a year that he wanted to take my cookies up to the international space station for the spring of 2010. I thought oh wow. This is big, big news. But I wouldn't allow myself to get very excited 'cause I thought what if it doesn't and I'll be disappointed. So sure enough he contacted me in the fall, said he's working in Russia, but he still wanted the cookies to go up on the space shuttle.

Katie: He's serious. Wow.

Bessilyn: Yes. Oh, I hope this happens. So I got a call in February from the Johnson Space Lab said Colonel Kramer has requested your cookies. I thought oh, it's really gonna happen. This is fabulous.

Esther: Oh wow.

Bessilyn: So they asked to have several dozen cookies. They wanted to test them for microbiological testing.

Katie: Oh my gosh.

Bessilyn: Yes; I'm going oh -

Katie: Wow; no pressure.

Bessilyn: Yeah; exactly. So that week they picked up the cookies and they called me back two weeks later, said they had been approved and they would definitely go up on the next launch which was in April.

Esther: Amazing.

Katie: That is so cool.

Esther: And I wanna know how Colonel Kramer even came across your cookies.

Bessilyn: Oh, well, Colonel Kramer is a wonderful patron of the restaurant. He's been coming with his family for many, many years. So that's how the relationship started and loved the food, but we couldn't send the food up there. So he said, 'Well I want the cookies.' So we gladly sent them.

Esther: Fabulous.

Katie: So I love the fact that somewhere in NASA you're on the okay list. So who knows. Maybe you'll be like a staple from now on -

Bessilyn: That would be nice.

Esther: Yeah; you're sort of out there near NASA anyways so it's a perfect -

Bessilyn: Yes; we're on NASA Parkway the same as the Johnson Space Center.

Esther: So I bet you actually get a lot of visitors coming to you who are on their way to NASA or on their way back from NASA.

Bessilyn: We do; yes; absolutely, but the most incredible thing about the cookie, it's wonderful that the cookie went up there. I've just been ecstatic.

Katie: That's so cool.

Bessilyn: We have received several e-mails from Colonel while he's in space and even a phone call and that's just -

Katie: From space.

Bessilyn: Yes; from space.

Katie: That is incredible.

Bessilyn: He sent us pictures of the cookies floating in space, which is incredible.

Katie: Aww.

Esther: Oh; that's --

Bessilyn: So when he comes back we're gonna have a Colonel Kramer day at the Italian Café.

Katie: Awww.

Esther: Lovely. Katie, I think we're gonna have to make our way up there.

Katie: Totally.

Esther: Please e-mail us. We wanna come.

Katie: Exactly. You should e-mail us so we can get there early and we can help you form them into like constellations.

Esther: That's really cool. Do you have any advice for other people who are interested in getting into the restaurant world? What can they expect or what would you tell them? What would you tell somebody who's like gosh, I really wanna do this, but I don't know how.

Bessilyn: It's more than just good recipes. You have to love the business. You have to be married to it and you have to love your customer. That has been our secret. We get to know our customers by first name. It's very important. I think those are the three basic things and you have to know business. You can't just know how to cook 'cause the business side of it is very, very important; the ordering, the percentages. You want to stay in business you have to have a business mind as well.

Katie: So one quick thing before we go. Tell us about your website, where they can find you online.

Bessilyn: Well the Italian Café website is www.theitaliancafe.com. The cookie website is nonipiazza.com. That's what my grandchildren affectionately call me so I had to name it that.

Esther: Of course.

Bessilyn: It's N-O-N-I-P-I-A-Z-Z-A.com.

Esther: Well thank you Bessilyn. That was such a great interview. We really appreciate you chatting with us today.

Katie: And for bringing us cookies.

Bessilyn: Well thank you.

Esther: That's what I'm really excited about.

Bessilyn: You're quite welcome.

Katie: You're both very sweet.

Esther: That wraps up our chat with Bessilyn Piazza. She is the owner of the Italian Café in Seabrook, Texas, as well as the owner of NASA cookies, space cookies, which have gone up into space, into outer space with Colonel Kramer. We're definitely gonna hear more about that in the future, believe me.

Katie: Yes. You're listening to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com. Coming up in Chapter 3 we've got another great interview with L.J. Wiley of Yelapa, Mexico.