Young Entrepreneur’s Academy grad starts a pizza shop in downtown Altoona

“I couldn’t ask for better customers,” says Ayden Craine, who opened up Heritage Pizza at 1304 16^th Street in Altoona on January 8 and has done a brisk business ever since.

Craine describes the genesis of the business. “I was shooting pool with the building owner Don McCreedy and when we got to talking, he revealed that he was sitting on a vacant building. This led to a discussion on what I could open there and pretty soon we were writing up a lease agreement,” said Craine.

After signing the lease, the 20-year-old became a quick study on the art of making pizza and he felt like he belonged in the space. “The business that operated here before me was also a pizza business,” he said.

Craine said that he “caught the entrepreneurial bug” from a good friend. “He kept telling me how great being an entrepreneur is, how to achieve it, and the benefits it could reap. Ever since that day, being an entrepreneur is almost all I can think about. Making money doesn’t have to directly come from working a 9-to-5 job — there were other ways that people made money that were more involved with financial and physical freedom. It is a good challenge and any good challenge comes with benefits. These are just the benefits I chose to take.”

He says that local business people guided him along the way–people like Brian Stroh, who owned the now-closed Deli at Mansion Park and who recently opened a breakfast place called The Daily Grind, on Union Avenue. “I used to ride my bike down to Brian’s pizza shop when I was a kid,” Craine said, adding that Stroh advised him on strategies like setting up the kitchen for maximum efficiency. Stroh later sent his partner Kurt Maidl to the shop to teach Craine how to stretch dough and set him up with suppliers like WB Mason to source his pizza boxes. “Kurt worked in the pizza shop that Brian owned and is a phenomenal pizza maker,” explains Craine.

Craine also credits Startup Alleghenies Coach Matt Fox for mentoring him when he was a senior at Bishop Guilfoyle and a member of the Young Entrepreneur’s Academy (Yea!) that is part of the Blair County Chamber of Commerce.

I decided to do one thing and do it well and that’s round New York-style pies.

“Ayden has been part of our entrepreneurial ecosystem since he was in high school and it’s been great to see him take on this new challenge,” Fox said. “He has a great future ahead of him.”

Craine said that he is also thankful for Terry Anderson from the St. Francis Small Business Development Center. “Terry assisted me with finances. I consulted him with every financial decision I made, and he was a tremendous help,” Crain said.

What to expect

Craine said he named the 18-seat pizza shop Heritage Pie for a reason. “We are close to Heritage Plaza in downtown Altoona. There is a sense of class here,” he said.

Customers seeking anything other than pizza will be out of luck, however. “I decided to do one thing and do it well and that’s round New York-style pies,” said Craine, adding that those seeking a high-quality pizza will be quite satisfied. “I get most of my ingredients through Alto Markets located on 6^th Avenue, which is owned by Travis Seymour, who has been a huge help as well,” said Craine.

Pies are sold by the slice and by the pie, with the most popular being a simple 18-inch pepperoni, according to Craine.

I love interacting with people and have met many nice customers and as the word continues to get out, I am hoping to meet many more.

When it came to marketing, Craine said that he’s tried different strategies. “We’ve had our most success with Facebook and will be branching out later,” he said.

The thing that Craine, being so new to the business, finds the most enjoyable is experimenting with what works and what doesn’t. “Learning the ‘why’ behind it is what I find most fascinating,” he said. And being a people person doesn’t hurt either when working in the pie business. “I love interacting with people and have met many nice customers and as the word continues to get out, I am hoping to meet many more,” Craine said.

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