"In his spare time Nat enjoys having parties in parked cars and in the future he plans to own his own Italian pizza joint," reads Natalino Bastone's yearbook entry from 1978.
Bastone and his cousin Franco's dreams have at least partially come true with Nat's New York Pizzeria on West Broadway near Macdonald celebrating 20 years this month of slinging thin-crust, Neopolitanstyle pizza.
In 1991, Franco quit his job at the adjacent Safeway, where Bastone's family home once stood, and the two travelled to the pizza shop of a relative in Yonkers, New York, to learn the secrets of their great, great, great, grandmothers' kitchens in Naples.
They opened Nat's around the corner from their old high school, Kitsilano secondary, on April 15, 1992. "[Our] uncle in New York told us close to a high school is always good," Bastone said.
Bastone, then 31, and Franco, then 27, worked 15-hour days to establish their business, which flourished in the 1990s. They gave to Big Sisters of B.C. Lower Mainland and a total of $300,000 to B.C. Children's Hospital for childhood cancer research through the Giovanni Bastone Foundation, which bear's Bastone's father's name. They continue to provide a $1,000 scholarship to a student at Kits secondary who's following in the footsteps of Franco's sister, playwright Gina Bastone, and pursuing a career in theatre and arts.
But times have changed with more competition from corporations, parking meters deterring customers from stopping, skyrocketing gas prices and related hikes in ingredient costs and the HST. "[In 2010] we probably lost close to $100,000 because of HST," Bastone said.
Flour cost one quarter of what it does now when Nat's opened. Yet the pizzeria can only charge so much for a slice. In 1993, a plain cheese slice cost $2.10; now it's $2.75.
The Bastones reduced their full-and part-time staff from 20 eight years ago to 14, and have returned to working 12-hour days. A longtime employee owns and operates the Nat's location in the West End. "We closed on Sundays back in the day because we could afford to, but as soon as expenses started going up, we had to open up that extra day," Bastone said.
He noted minimum wage will rise another 75 cents an hour next May. Bastone greeted customers by name Monday afternoon. Teens clog the shop, which is decked out with photos of family and Nat's history on its walls and counters, on a daily basis.
Kits grads with a fondness for Nat's may not be able to visit with their kids as often as they'd like, however. "It's sad to see you have to move out of your neighbourhood because it's too expensive for you to live here, because you're not fortunate enough to have a doctor's degree or a dentist's or a lawyer's, or [be] a politician," Bastone said.
He wasn't sure whether Nat's would have specials or a party to celebrate its milestone. "I would be nice just to get away for a few days and rest."
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