By Alyssa Serrano
Correspondent
At Red Star Pizza 3, the secret ingredient isn’t something that can be found in their pizza’s sauce, but rather in the character, love and passion that owner, Erick Tejada, and his family bring to the shop.
Tejada took over Red Star Pizza 3 seven years ago, when his daughter was 11 and his son was 8, and says his greatest pride in running his business has been the skills he has taught his children and the time he has spent with them.
“One of my main things was to give my kids the opportunity to work,” said Tejada. “I wanted to teach them how they should be treated by their bosses, but also how they need to be responsible as well. That was one of the main things that stood out, to have the family around and working together.”
Tejada was born and raised in Guatemala, but he’s been living and working in the Ewing area since he was 19. For 20 long years, Tejada spent his time working in a pizza place and working his way up from the bottom of the work chain. He remembers starting by washing dishes and working his way up step by step until he had gone from dishes, to prep work, to the kitchen and learning how to cook and make things like pizza.
“If you stay 20 years doing this type of job, you have to like it,” said Tejada.
Despite his passion, the days are often long, tiring, and incredibly demanding, but he was raised to believe that things are better when you work hard for yourself to reach your goals. This and his family really inspired him to keep working and to go after his interest in the food industry.
He remembers working in the area and seeing students from the College coming in, “There were a lot of students that used to come on Fridays, it was amazing. Four or five o’clock in the afternoon, they used to come and it was really amazing how full this place used to get with the kids from the College — it was pretty awesome.”
Tejada stated that pizza is a definite best seller and he refers to it as, “one of the key factors of life here almost,” but he also notes that they do a lot of wraps and sandwiches that are really good and tend to sell well.
He has centered his business around family and a strong work ethic, and despite being busy themselves, both his daughter and son still come and help out around the shop, with his daughter doing a lot in the front of the house and his son choosing to do more work in the kitchen.
However, beyond his own family, he also feels that they know many of their customers so well that it feels like they have become family and close friends.
“There is something very special about this place, everyone that comes here leaves happy. We know every customer that comes here, we know what they order, things they like, and we really put in the effort to make everybody feel like they are home.”
