Here's what I'm doing . . .
What I'm doing: John Serrantino
Marketplace presents "Here's What I'm Doing," a series asking people from all walks of life how they're coping with the financial crisis. John Serrantino owns a pizza place in New York's financial district.
Tantalizing pizzas on a red-checkered tablecloth (iStockPhoto.com)
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TEXT OF STORY
Kai Ryssdal: Over the past couple of weeks we've been asking a question that's pretty simple on the face of it. But fairly hard to answer. What are you doing? About your finances, that is, given everything that's going on in the economy. We've heard from a lot of people on all three Marketplace programs. Today, a slice of life from a guy who sells pizza in New York's financial district.
John Serrantino: My name is John Serrantino, we're at my daddy's pizza on 77 Pearl Street behind Goldman Sachs. Been down here 32 years. Back in '87, I had a store across the street. I had the first floor and I had the top floor for seating after the stock market crash of '87, by '89 I lost it. I threw away a half a million dollars but that's, you know, that's the way it goes.
In Wall Street, that's the trend, it goes up, it goes down and it is getting slower and slower. Companies are cutting back. Companies do not buy lunch for their employees. And now you have employees that don't come in. If they used to come in two or three times a week, now they come in once a week, so forth and so on. They probably bring lunch from home.
Pizza's not iron profit, it's a low mark-up item. You just come in, what do you spend: $2.50 slice, $5 for lunch. You just can't charge $4, $5 for a slice of pizza. Especially with the economy what it is today, no way.
What you do is you pay your bills, hope you can pay your bills and just hope you keep up with them until everything turns around and it gets better again. I never did place a great value on money, I just felt if you have just enough money to raise a family and to give them the best that you can -- college education, so forth and so on -- that's plenty.
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