Guide for young entrepreneurs: advice from Hedy Jarras

Entrepreneur: Hedy Jarras ’93
Business founded:  Sweet Tomatoes Pizza

Hedy Jarras ’93 is the first to admit she wasn’t into working while in high school and college.

“My track record for jobs sucked,” she told Beaver’s entrepreneur class.

But that all changed the summer after graduating college when she got a callback for a job at Sweet Tomatoes Pizza in Sandwich, Mass. She spent the next few months making pizzas and realized she absolutely loved it.

“I had found my calling,” she said.

After the season was over, Jarras told the owner she wanted to start her own Sweet Tomatoes in Boston — and she did just that.

Her pizzeria opened Dec. 18, 1998 in Newton Centre, when Jarras was only 23 years old and in her own words, “clueless”. But the establishment thrived and it has continued to be successful. Since the Newton Centre location, Jarras has opened up two more establishments — one in West Newton and one in Needham — and recently agreed to licensing a third Sweet Tomatoes at Northeastern University.

Her advice to students who want to start a business is to start young, be passionate about your product, and treat your employees right. “Without my employees, I wouldn’t have a business.”

More in our guide for young entrepreneurs:

Michael Bronner | Hedy Jarras | David Fialkow | Jeremy Levine | Nassib Chamoun | Mike Hirshland | George Bell | Rick Webb

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