Conway’s new Pitza 42 has been open for just over a year and has already made a big impact on not only the community of Conway but on children all over the world. Ouachita alumni Austin and Ashton Samuelson have found a way to combine their passion with business in this restaurant.
Located off Dave Ward Dr., Pitza 42 operates on the same concept as Toms Shoes and is based on a one to one ratio: for each meal bought, one meal is donated to starving children across the world.
Austin and Ashton graduated from Ouachita in 2008 with business and education degrees, and were married that year. Following graduation, the two moved to Los Angeles to work and a few years later moved back to Arkansas.
According to Austin, God placed on their hearts a passion for hunger in 2011. While debating ways to do something about this hunger, Austin got the idea for this restaurant. He lost his job soon after and the couple knew God was trying to tell them something.
“Everyone thought we were crazy,” he said. “We didn’t know anything about the restaurant industry.”
Austin’s younger sister Victoria Samuelson is a junior business major at Ouachita.
“Honestly at first I was nervous about the idea of a restaurant,” she said. “That moment of doubt quickly faded when I realized that my brother and sister were being obedient to the calling of God. I very quickly caught the passion of the ministry.”
In February of 2011, Austin and Ashton committed to starting their restaurant. After seven months of working nonstop, the following September the restaurant was up and running.
The two knew they didn’t want to do another sandwich shop and wanted something that involved healthier food. They decided on a pita pizza restaurant, creating the name “Pitza Four Two.”
The next step was to find an organization to partner with. Austin and Ashton researched quite a few organizations and found Feed My Starving Children (FMSC).
For every meal sold 22 cents of that meal is given to FMSC. Austin said the great thing about this organization is that, “If you give them 22 cents you know that it will feed a child.
“One thing that they do is a mobile pack,” he said. “During a mobile pack, the business gets together volunteers to help pack the amount of meals they have donated that year to be shipped all over the world.
“The cool thing about these food packs is that the kids get all the vitamins and protein they need for an entire day in one simple meal. It’s a Christian organization so they are getting more than just fed physically but they are also getting fed spiritually,” he said.
Last year Pitza 42 packed around 109,000 meals and plans to pack over 270,000 meals at their next mobile pack Feb. 22-23, 2013.
“The atmosphere is great and it’s a fun place to be at,” said Kaley Scott, student at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. “The pictures on the walls and stories about the kids make you feel like a part of this mobilization and epidemic. It makes you feel part of something bigger. And it’s so simple.”
The Samuelson’s said it was hard for their families to wrap their heads around. It was a new experience but “Pitza 42 is a family business,” Victoria said.
“We are all involved. I feel incredibly blessed to have watched it go from an idea on a napkin to something that affects thousands of lives in just over a year,” she said.
Austin and Ashton took a leap of faith when they opened Pitza 42 in September 2011, but it has proved to be rewarding for the both of them.
“With people that had no experience in opening a restaurant and no financial backing, it’s unheard of that a business can open up in only seven months,” Ashton said. “I think Austin and I are coming back to the fact that it is not us that built this, but its because of God’s provision.”
