Restaurant owners put competition aside during pandemic

Two restaurants that may normally compete for the same customers’ dollars teamed up during the
coronovirus pandemic.
Pizza Scene on Main Street in Miami Lakes and in Hialeah began giving away medium pizza pies to families locked down at home with their children during the crisis.
“We want to give back to the community,” Hector Rodriguez, owner of Pizza Scene, said on March 18.
“These are our customers, and this is a time of need,” he said.
It’s also a time when small restaurants really need the support of their customers.
“Shopping local is a big thing,” Rodriguez said.
Each day, Pizza Scene donated 10 of their New York-style cheese pies from their two locations.
At the Miami Lakes shop, a board held tickets for pizza pies that customers, as well as the owner of NQC Craft Beer & Grub restaurant, have donated to the cause.
Any parent could come in, pick up a ticket and take home a free pie.
The goal, Rodriguez said, was to provide lunch for stressed out parents and their kids.
After all, who doesn’t love pizza?
NQC, which is also in Miami Lakes, donated five tickets on the first day of the free pizza campaign.
“Hector and I are friends,” said Mylo
Gonzalez, owner of NQC in the Lake Katharine Shopping Center.
NQC stands for “No Quiero Cocinar” in
Spanish, or “I don’t want to cook” in English.
The restaurant operates from inside a former Farm Store drive-thru.
“We’ve seen first-hand what a strong community can accomplish,” Gonzalez said. “The Holy Spirit got me to do it. We are fortunate God has blessed us with a drive-thru business.”
Gonzalez said any potential rivalry between the restaurants was put aside during the unprecedented crisis.
“It came naturally to help,” Gonzalez said. “We do things out of love. We don’t compete.”
Pizza Scene will continue to donate pies as long as they can remain open, Rodriguez said.
Pizza Scene (www.pizzascene.com) is at 6725 Main St. in Miami Lakes and at 2360 W. 68th St. in Hialeah.
NQC (www.nqcmiami.com) is at 6189 Miami Lakes Dr.
For more information or to make a donation, call 305-558-3212.