20-year-old Heritage Pizza owner working to grow business

ALTOONA, Pa. (WTAJ)– Ayden Craine, the 20-year-old owner of Heritage Pizza in Altoona, has had business cooking up since opening two weeks ago on the corner of 13th Avenue and 16th Street.

Just two years ago, Craine graduated from Bishop Guilfoyle High School and has since been working to fulfill his dream of owning his own business.

“People kind of pushed me to go to college, but I never wanted to go to college,” Craine said. “And I knew that from the start. I knew I wanted to own a business. And to own a business you don’t need to go to college. So, I figured well I could either spend four years and go to college or spend four years and learn and start my own business so that’s what I did.”

Craine said that he knows being a young business owner is becoming less common in today’s world, but he’s been able to adapt and figure it out as he goes.

“Pretty much all learning on the fly,” Craine said. “That’s one of the fun parts about it. I’ve talked to like other business owners who started up corporations and stuff and I was like ‘hey do you know anything about starting a business like before you actually started it?’ And they’re like no way.”

He knew the previous owner of the vacant building and said that when it became available, he couldn’t miss out on the opportunity. As far as where to get started, he said you don’t have to be rich to start your own business.

“There’s city grants, there’s state grants,” Craine said. “Look for investors, different sorts of things, because believe it or not you can start a business for pretty cheap.”