By Mike Kinney
At Mountain Mike’s Pizza in San Pablo, it really is all about family.
Rajdeep Sidhu purchased the staple pizza franchise at 3340 San Pablo Dam Road this year from Karnal Singh Bhatia. The store is where his mother was employed over a dozen years before the family opened a Berkeley location in 2015.
Now, the family owns the San Pablo location, as well.
“If it wasn’t for the previous owner giving my mom a job, we wouldn’t be where we are today,” Rajdeep said. “The San Pablo location is our foundation for who we are today.”
The San Pablo store was Rajdeep’s first job and he is proud to now be the owner. He said the community can look forward to a remodel of the business, including new large screen TVs, paint and a new decal.
Rajdeep describes this new chapter for the San Pablo store as the American dream coming full circle. He is grateful for the hard work of his parents, who both work for the business. When he was growing up, Rajdeep’s mother worked long hours but still made sure to cook fresh food for her family before and after work.
“Seeing my family working hard day in and day out, I have no other option but to make them proud and assure them that they have raised a hard-working child,” he said.
That hard work has garnered a devoted clientele. Popular specialty pizzas offered at Mountain Mike’s include the Everest, the Chicken Club, and the Pineapple Chicken Luau. Rajdeep says customers are often provided with coupons to reduce the cost of their order.
The family business is connected to the local community. This year it held fundraisers with the ESN Preschool, Room 15 at Riverside Elementary School in San Pablo, and also with the San Pablo Police Department and Vision Sports Academy in Richmond.
After the upcoming remodel of the San Pablo store is complete, Rajdeep hopes to host more fundraisers. He says his family has “tremendous gratitude” toward Mountain Mike’s for selecting the family to be franchisees in 2015, noting it is a competitive process.
There is a challenge, however, in operating an expanding family business.
“When there is a family event, it gets challenging for the entire family to take day off on the same day because you are part of the employment,” Rajdeep said.
