By Charlie Pogacar
The first job Janet Zapata, now the owner of 550 Pizzeria in Laredo, Texas, ever held was a cashier position at a Cicis Pizza store. Though the pizza chain shares little resemblance to her acclaimed independent shop, Zapata learned lessons in customer service at Cicis Pizza that she carries with her to this day.
By her own admission, Zapata, although a warm and kindly presence, is “super-shy” by nature and prone to anxiety. Those were disadvantages she had to overcome as her career evolved. “I learned that even if your voice is shaking, you still have to speak,” Zapata said on the most recent episode of Peel: A PMQ Pizza Podcast. “You can’t be afraid of the person standing across from you. If you know you did [something] wrong, you accept it, apologize, and move on—even if they don’t accept it back.”
Zapata’s unflinching approach to hospitality is one of the many factors that have earned 550 Pizzeria both local and national accolades. At the local level, Zapata and 550 Pizzeria were recently honored by the Laredo Chamber of Commerce as a “Game Changer” business, and readers of the Laredo Times routinely choose it as the city’s best pizza shop. Her pizzeria has become a hub in the local community, so much so that Zapata recently doubled her shop’s footprint and began offering extra-large pizzas and slices.
Related: Why This Red-Hot Pizzeria is Adding Extra-Large Pies to Its Menu
“I was born and raised in Laredo, and it’s important to me to give back to the people here,” Zapata told PMQ. “I always tell my daughter, start with your community and then grow out into the world.”
Over the summer, 50 Top Pizza, a worldwide guide to pizza restaurants, named 550 Pizzeria to its list of Excellent Pizzerias. While the honor didn’t necessarily mean a whole lot in the local community of Laredo, it did give Zapata and her team affirmation. It was a vote of confidence from a highly regarded international source—a callback, of sorts, to the lesson she learned at Cicis Pizza all those years ago.
“I’ve been in situations where the fear feels like it can swallow you whole,” Zapata said. “But showing up, speaking up, and standing your ground matters more than any fear of rejection or failure.”
To hear more about Zapata’s inspiring journey, check out the latest episode of Peel: A PMQ Podcast. The show can be found at the following links:
