How One Operator Turned $500,000 in Annual Sales Into $5 Million at His Family’s Shop

Avery Ward didn’t have a lot of interest in running the family business, Little Italy Ristorante in Groveport, Ohio. His grandparents, Chuck and Janet Ward, had opened the pizzeria in 1979, and Ward had watched his dad, Nick, work the business his whole life.
Ward was busy at his dream job at Apple when fate intervened. In 2015, his father suffered a brain aneurysm. According to Ward, he was suddenly faced with few options. Selling the business was not one of them: His grandparents wouldn’t go for that. He could let the business go bankrupt or shut it down, but again, his family had other ideas.