Tony Aponte began his pizza career in north New Jersey at age 11.

"We were poor," he said about his first job. "I had four brothers and sisters, and I started to work to take care of my family."

Thirty years later, Aponte has opened his second Aponte's Pizzeria, at 753 Reading Road in Mason, with 100-item variety and his New Jersey-style pizza.

"I'm from New Jersey," Aponte said. "It's the kind of pizza we made."

When Aponte was 22, he opened his first store in West Caldwell, N.J., before he moved to Ohio with his wife, who had family in Pickerington, Ohio.

Aponte decided to open his store to be closer to his three daughters, Paige, 13, Corinne, 12, and Reece, 10, who live with their mother in Mason. The Eastgate resident plans to move to Mason this year. His daughters have their "own" pizza on the menu, and they help out at the store every other weekend.

"You want to keep that home touch," Aponte said. "Restaurant owners in New Jersey named items after family members to show their love and to show they were always thinking about them."

Aponte said they make their own pizza dough and pizza sauce, and use only 100 percent whole milk cheese.

"No one that I know uses 100 percent whole milk cheese, they use the mixed or provolone cheeses," Aponte said. "That's the flavor you can't beat."

Paige said she loves to cook with her dad. She makes the cold menu items, while her sister Corinne takes food orders and Reece cleans the tables.

"It teaches us how to be responsible, and how to work for what you want," Paige said about working. "I learn how to depend on myself more."

Paige would like to go to college and will rely on her work experience with her father.

"Maybe one day I'll own a restaurant, but I will take what I learned and apply it to whatever I do," Paige said.

Aponte is already involved in the community, donating pizza to the schools and Kiwanis events.

"If they had a choice, they are going to come here for the family touch, and the food. They're not coming for a bargain, they are coming for the quality of the food," Aponte said.

-From an article in The Pulse Journal 12/2005