Owner of Pig Floyd's, Pigzza says growing up in Puerto Rico contributed to his Orlando success
Central Florida is blessed with so many restaurants that recreate the flavors and recipes our abuelas introduced us to. There's one entrepreneur from Puerto Rico making a splash right now in one of Orlando's foodie meccas.
Long before he became a big name on Orlando's restaurant scene, Thomas Ward was just a kid, caught up in a chicken war in Puerto Rico.
"No, really, my dad's an entrepreneur. So when I was born at that time, he used to be the chicken guy in Puerto Rico," Ward said.
"Was he actually known as the chicken guy?" WESH 2's Nancy Alvarez asked.
"Yeah, well, he was, because there was a famous Guerra de los Pollos, they called it, between a local supplier and my dad that was bringing chicken from the United States. The chicken war, which is in the books in Puerto Rico, believe it or not, was a very interesting, complicated situation that happened to him. And then from then on, he moved into ice cream after that," Ward said.
When the family's ice cream business took off in their native Puerto Rico, Ward stepped up.
"I used to work in summer, waking up at 3 a.m., going to sell ice cream," he recalled.
His next stop after high school graduation on the island — Rollins College in Orlando. A stint in real estate followed, then a return to Puerto Rico and his dad's next venture: supermarkets.
Thenm it was back to Orlando just as food trucks were becoming all the rage.
"It was really big at Miami at that point. And I said, 'let's do it in Orlando.' And I started a burger truck," he said. "I have to be honest, I have no prior knowledge of cooking before the truck. I didn't like cooking. I wasn't a chef. I wasn't into any of that. I don't have this little story that my grandmother taught me or anything like that. Like I ate everything they made, and I ate a lot. But I learned a lot more about the business in general, you know, which led me to my next project, which was I went back to Puerto Rico and opened a restaurant there in one of my father's supermarkets, which I had for a year. And then eventually I moved back to Orlando and I start Pig Floyd's. So I've been on the move a lot."
At every move, Ward credits his family and his culture for his success.
"I went to Home Depot, bought a smoker and started watching a bunch of YouTube, and I cooked a turkey with my mother and the turkey came out the winner of the night," he said. "Giving it that different flair and bringing in rice and beans and making it making it a little bit more interesting, you know, I have four sisters, so my sisters always decide where we're going to eat or my mom."
"Like a good Latino, you listen to your mom and sisters," Alvarez said.
"Yeah, yeah. It helped a lot because I mean we put tacos and we, we did salads and stuff like that with smoked meat and, and obviously it became, you know, a place that families could come," Ward said. "We beat our projections within six months of opening. So it was really it was great. The Mills area was changing, right? It was a big change of time in the Mills area district."
As Mills 50 transformed into a destination, Ward's business grew with it. Pigzza now sits not far from Pig Floyds.
What hasn't changed is his connection to his island.
Enter the special -- Puerto Rico's famous tripleta sandwich, complete with a mayo-ketchup blend, on a pizza.
"It has to have pork, chicken and steak. It's a crazy pizza," he said.
With new projects on the horizon, Ward says two things never change -- the influence of his island and his family, and his willingness to open his arms to the next generation of entrepreneurs.
"I think there's a lot of opportunity. The important thing is that they ask the questions, right, because the business here is very different than in Puerto Rico or the business and in whatever island or South America. It's different. It's just it reacts different. There's different rules," he said. "Like if you're going to be in the restaurant business here, come ask questions. I'm open. Like I share my experience just so that people don't go through the same, you know, I mean, two and a half years to build a restaurant to get open. That's tough. The foundation of family, that the backbone of them being there. If you needed anything or if something happens that's very important."