Long Island pizzeria supports officers and veterans

But you brought this story to us a couple months ago. I did. And we're talking about Pietro's out in East Meadow. Because first they were raising money for Officer Patricia Espinosa. Yes. And this was just a terrible case. She was killed by a drunk driver in January. And the owner, Lauren Maslov, worked with some of the local pizzerias and other organizations. And they helped raise a lot of money. A lot of money for the family, which is very nice. It was all donated to... To her family, you know, she left behind a husband and a baby girl, just devastating. She was on her way to work when that accident, when the incident happened and the alleged drunk driver killed her. Yeah, and we know there were pizzerias all throughout Nassau County that were involved. Well, we want to go back out to Pietro's because they have something special going on this morning, the Long Island Pizzeria, marking 50 years in business as well by giving back to the communities that supported it. For three generations, hard to believe. We have Lauren Maslov on the line. Lauren, are you there? Can you hear us? Good morning. Hi, good morning. Hi, I hear you. So talk to us a little bit about what's happening today. It's Veterans Day, and I know you guys are making a big effort to make sure that you can raise some money, right? Yes, yes. Well, so today we're actually doing something special. We're doing Vets Eat Free today, so for Veterans Day. And also, it's the same week that we're celebrating our 50th anniversary of Pietro's, of three generations of family-owned, which is very hard to come by these days. It is hard. So we do have some nice pictures from all throughout the years. So I don't know if you've seen these yet. We were able to dig them up. So Pietro's, 50 years. Can you Can you sort of give us just a little bit of the history? Sure. So my grandfather started the restaurant in 1976. He got a lot of help from my great grandmother there on the screen. My dad also decided, well, that's my dad. My dad came in in the 80s to help out my grandfather, tell about my grandmother, because my grandfather passed only 10 years into operating the restaurant. And he did an amazing job keeping it going for 35 years. So my grandfather did a 10, my dad did 35, and now I just hit my five-year mark. So we're at 50 years this year. So it's really exciting. We're home of the original sesame seed crust pizza. That's right. Congratulations, Lauren. I'm very excited for you. You know, full disclosure, I live in East Meadow. Oh, do you know about this spot? I do. I know about this spot. You know, it's like I frequently. Often, but I frequent it often, and there are the igloos, which my kids love. I was going to ask you, you know, 50 years, three different generations, and you have taken over in the last five years. You've obviously made, things are different inside, obviously, the way it looks aesthetically. What have you done differently than your parents and grandparents? So we got, we jumped on the bandwagon with a lot of internet. We've been doing Instagram, TikTok, things like that, just to get our name out there. Which has really helped. I remember actually, kind of funny, the first time we got really busy, my mom was like, this is why we don't advertise on the internet. I'm like, wait, isn't that the whole point? You know, we're supposed to bring in business. But it's been a journey. I changed the menu. We upgraded the menu. We changed, oh gosh, so many things. We are now offering Roman-style pizza, which is something new for us. Totally different product. What is Roman-style pizza? You got a Roman-style pizza. I'm starting to speak now. We're doing it all. We're getting out there, trying to get our feet wet. You know, because there's some things to be said about keeping the original recipes, but we have to evolve. And I really think that's what's kept us in business for so long. We really listen to the customers. Like, that's all I think about is I take every review so seriously that I kind of obsess over it to the point. And I change everything based on what kind of feedback we get from our customers. And we were just talking. I mean, you guys obviously were one of many pizzerias on Long Island. Nassau County, that helped raise money for Officer Espinosa and her family. And now today, offering free meals to these veterans. You know, that's a lot of community sort of engagement and service. Why is that important to you? Every time we've given back to the community, it's come back to us tenfold. And I just feel it's just, it's also just good energy you're putting out there. People are really appreciative of it and they feel it. They come to us and they say, oh, I love what you're doing. Sometimes they come just to say thank you. I mean, the craziest things happen. So it's a really beautiful thing and I'm really proud to be part of such an amazing company that my grandfather created and my dad carried on. And Lauren, I've seen on social media, you say you're very active on social media. She even does like these skits with you. You involve your daughter, your husband, the staff there as well. So she really has a connection with the community, brings everyone together, her staff. Talk to us about how you really engage on Instagram and TikTok with the customers. The cuspid. Well, everybody, it's funny. Actually, a lot of the videos we do, the funniest ones are the ones that get the most engagement. And I've had customers thank us for getting them through their surgery. Like they said, I was in the hospital and I was watching these videos. It just made me happy and made me cheer up. And I think customers come to us because they see our personality. And we're just fun-loving people just looking to serve great food and give a great experience to people. We just want to have fun. And just wrapping up, Lauren, again, we're talking to Lauren Maslov, Third generation owner. of Pietro's in East Meadow out there in Nassau County. Thank you, Connie. I have a favorite slice, which is the... Which one? Hot honey pepperoni. Hot honey pepperoni, yes. Do you guys serve that there? Yes, they do. We do, of course. Do you know which is going to... Do you deliver to 205 East 67th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan? We'll make it happen for you. Okay, but seriously, where can people find you? Where are you guys if they want to check you out? Shout out your TikTok page and Instagram and all that stuff if you want. Oh, thank you. We're at 476 East Meadow Avenue in East Meadow, Nassau County, really close to Eisenhower Park. So right after Luminosity, the kids like to come, and we get a lot of families, so it's great. Good stuff. And is it for today for the veterans? Is it all day, a specific time frame that you have? All day. Okay, all day. Can you show something or show that? They were going uniform. Do they need to show anything or? We'll take their word for it. All right. Well, thank you very much, Lauren. We appreciate it. Hope everyone can get a nice slice.