The Supply Side: Pozza’s Pasta owner focused on family tradition, legacy

Lucius Mhoon, owner of Pozza’s Pasta brand made in Springdale, bought the brand 20 years ago from Felix Pozza, who launched the pasta brand as a Tontitown grocer in 1971.

Mhoon grew up in Tontitown, and his great-aunt Alice owned the Venesian Inn that her parents John and Mary Granata acquired in the late 1940s. Granata was Mhoon’s great-grandfather who immigrated to Tontitown from Northern Italy in 1908.

Mhoon, wife Alison, and their two kids live in a 100-year-old home built by Granata that was also once a dairy farm during Mhoon’s childhood. He grew up eating Pozza’s Pasta made just like it was made in Italy at least six generations ago. Mhoon’s mom, Susan, opened Susan’s Restaurant in Springdale in 1996 when he was 16 years old and the dairy business had all but dried up.

Mhoon started as a dishwasher at Susan’s while in high school. He worked various jobs at the restaurant while attending the University of Arkansas and earning an engineering degree. He worked abroad after graduation and returned home around 2005. That summer he purchased the Pozza’s Pasta brand as a sideline business while he was working at Susan’s.

The restaurant used only Pozza’s Pasta, and when the company was for sale, Mhoon thought he would buy the equipment and have the restaurant make their pasta. He said the brand was also for sale, so he bought it all and has tried to keep the pasta brand alive for his kids, now the fifth generation from John and Mary Granata.

“We served the pasta in our restaurant, and over the years, it has been packaged and sold in retail stores around the state. But the brand never has grown as much as I had one time hoped that it would,” Mhoon said.

He said Felix Pozza once had the pasta brand in a few Walmart stores and would ship the pasta directly to stores on a collect-on-delivery basis. Mhoon said he has had opportunities to get Pozza’s in Walmart over the years, but the timing was never right. He said every time he’s been presented with opportunities to grow Pozza’s distribution it has come at a time when the restaurant needed him more.

Mhoon was successful in getting Pozza’s in Harps Food Stores. He sells the pasta at Whole Foods in Fayetteville and Little Rock, Allen’s Foods in Bella Vista, and Dimes Meat Market in Springdale. The pasta is also sold to the public at Susan’s Restaurant, and it’s the only pasta the eatery has ever served. Other restaurants that buy and prepare Pozza’s include Guido’s Pizza and Bariola’s Pizzeria. Mhoon said Pozza’s also takes online orders.

“I had an upscale convenience store chain that wanted to sell the pasta at all of its locations, but the volume they required with each shipment was more than we were already selling. And I was needed more at Susan’s and unable to devote more time to Pozza’s,” Mhoon said.

Susan’s is in its 29th year. Susan Mhoon is retired, and Lucius manages the eatery that employs 30 and is selling twice the food volume the restaurant did in year one. He runs Pozza’s with Alison. He rents a commercial kitchen near Susan’s where they make and package the dry pasta each week.

The main ingredients for pasta are eggs and flour. Egg prices have continued to rise, and Mhoon has had to raise prices at the restaurant and on the boxes of dry pasta. He said egg entree prices were raised 50 cents at the restaurant, and the wholesale price of the pasta went up $1 per box. He’s aware that price-wary consumers may balk at the higher pasta prices, but he hopes the quality will win out when consumers are craving pasta.

He said Pozza’s Pasta is made with two ingredients — whole fresh eggs and all-purpose flour — just like his ancestors did years ago. The noodles are hand-cut and flat so that they absorb sauce. Commercial pasta is typically tubular and mass-produced with added preservatives. Wednesday and Thursday are production days at Pozza’s off-site kitchen, where they make pasta from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. The dough is made and run through the roller, cut, and hung up to dry. The entire process takes about 24 hours.

Mhoon said Pozza’s sales represent about half of his current manufacturing capacity, but he does not have time to grow distribution unless it could include order fulfillment and shipping as the restaurant takes up a majority of his focus.

Mhoon said the COVID-19 pandemic was a trying time for the restaurant business, and Susan’s remained open for takeout, which was a big departure from the eatery’s comfy diner business. Mhoon said it was a scary time for small business owners. He said Susan’s Restaurant received a $50,000 grant from the Walton Family Foundation before government assistance became available for small businesses.

“It helped us to keep all of our cooks paid and working during a very difficult time,” he said. “The business has come back strong, and it’s great to see people out enjoying food and fellowship again.”

While Mhoon is an engineer, he also is a foodie and can’t imagine doing anything else. He said good food and great service are hallmarks at Susan’s and Pozza’s and remain the north star for the businesses.

“We take care of our employees, and they take care of our customers, which has been a winning formula for us over the years,” Mhoon said.

Editor’s note: The Supply Side section of Talk Business & Politics focuses on the companies, organizations, issues and individuals engaged in providing products and services to retailers. The Supply Side is managed by Talk Business & Politics, and is sponsored by HRG.