Pizza in a Pandemic

Hi, my name is Sarah Daddario and I am a senior
Business and Management major with a minor in Computer Science. This past summer I was lucky enough to receive funding from Wheaton for an unpaid internship. This internship was with Harry’s Pizza in West Hartford, Connecticut, and my official title was Financial Operations Intern. I was really excited to have secured this opportunity because I was able to learn so much about everything that goes into running a small business. Although this internship was mainly remote, I had the opportunity to go into the restaurant a few times for meetings (and to eat some of the amazing food). My main duties included payroll processing, vendor verification of invoices, and I was able to help a little bit on the marketing side as well. I had to use Microsoft Excel for a lot of my tasks so I was grateful that some of my previous courses had emphasized the importance of using the program for assignments and projects.

One of the most impressive things I was able to witness was how Harry’s shifted its business model from mainly dine-in and take-out, to exclusively take-out and delivery at the beginning of the pandemic. It was extremely interesting to see how they adapted and continued to thrive without having one of their main sources of income available. One thing that surprised me about this experience was how much I enjoyed working at a small business. I was able to form relationships with many of the employees, communicate with important people involved in the business, and grow my network by making connections.

Even though I mentioned that my title was Financial Operations Intern, since it is such a small business, I was able to observe and be involved in many different areas. A fun story that I wanted to share is that Harry’s started a promotional marketing campaign in May which involved posting a pizza special of the week on Instagram. These pizzas were complex and provided some exciting twists from the typical specials they offer on the menu. I had the incredible honor of creating one of those pizzas and chose a BLT pizza with house-made pesto aioli and I am extremely proud to say that it was delicious! I learned so much throughout my summer at Harry’s and gained skills and experience that will stay with me forever.

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