“A business offers you freedom, and you select what you do, and when you do it. Having a small business is a great thing,” John Soranno, Sr., owner of Punch Neapolitan Pizza and St. Paul Academy and Summit School parent of eighth grader John Soranno, said.

Both Sorannos have an overall positive view on owning a business as a family. John Soranno, Sr. claims that owning a restaurant affects his family life “only in positive ways,” and that “there’s really no downside to owning a business.”

“Owning a business affords you the freedom to do what you want,” John Soranno, Sr. said. He listed as an example: “I can pick my son up at school if I’m free.” Owning a business supplies a way to hand pick a system of getting things done, or as John Soranno, Sr. put it: “[Selecting] what you do, and when you do it.”

Running a business, like other things, has its catches. For the Sorannos, though, those catches don’t mean a dead end. “It doesn’t really affect us as a family; it can sometimes create stress over issues, but it feels pretty normal,” John Soranno said.

Punch Pizza is in the midst of building an eighth location, and in that, has already passed a milestone for most family run businesses in terms of expansion. “When I first opened [the] Highland [location] sixteen years ago, I just wanted to have one restaurant, and it was hard just to make that successful,” John Soranno, Sr. said.

But that didn’t stop him. He doesn’t lack modesty in saying, “I still consider it a small business.”

“I like that my family worked hard and succeeded, and it makes me proud of my dad and family,” John Soranno said.

Hard work pays off and teaches valuable lessons, even if it takes some getting used to. This is the rule that holds together the Soranno family’s story. “My dad always has to deal with one thing or another, but I’ve gotten more and more used to it so it doesn’t affect me as much as it use to,” John Soranno said. “It teaches me life lessons, being able to see how to manage people and deal with situations in business,” he continued.

Similarly, John Soranno, Sr. said, “I don’t think you ever learn anything valuable the easy way. All the good lessons come the hard way. You learn lots of life lessons the hard way.” He also added, “I think all business is hard. I think everything is hard, whether you’re a musician, actor or businessman. Whether you run Walmart or Punch Pizza, it’s a lot of work.”