Winfield Street Coffee

I immigrated to the US when I was 18 and got a job washing dishes at a legendary pizza joint in Greenwich CT. The owner's brother owned this empty mansion nearby and he let me sleep there - just me and a mattress in this giant house. I worked from 9 am to 11 pm every day. The job and the restaurant business fascinated me. I worked from sunup to sundown and couldn't get enough of it. I fell in love with the American culture, and I found a family within my pizza family - we took care of each other. I learned to prep chicken, meatballs, sauce, pizza dough and graduated to prep cook. Watching these hard-working immigrants, both the owners and staff, shaped my work ethic for who I am today; we, as a team, truly wanted to give it all to this pizza joint and its customers. One of my fondest memories, which still comes to my mind every time I am frustrated with unfinished work, is of the owner telling me to go home: "It is ok, Breno, tomorrow is a brand-new day.” That image helps me get at ease when I am overwhelmed and think I am not able. 

Winfield wasn't yet a thought back then, but I certainly already knew, as I was washing a pile of dishes at this hole-in-the-wall bewildering pizza joint, that counted as regulars Brendan Frasier, Anthony Hopkins, and multiple other actors and CEOs, that I was going to own my own food business in this country.