Why This American Gives Away His Pizza Profits in Vietnam

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]Welcome to beautiful Daang. It's a really nice day and it's a very special day for me. This is Graffiti New York Pizza. A very special place. The owner of this place, his name is Rob. He has two very incredible missions. I have no clue how he's achieving it and that's why I'm meeting him. Let's have a talk.

[00:00:21]Let's go in.

[00:00:23]>> Rob, thank you for having me. Nice to meet you. Um, so I understand you have two missions.

[00:00:31]Mission number one is offering the best Italian food in town, maybe in whole Vietnam. Let's see how that goes. And mission number two is even more important. Um, you're helping Vietnamese children in need. So, how does that fit together? How are you doing this? Tell us.

[00:00:48]>> Oh gosh. Um well I you know basically I've been working with children for about 25 years now uh in America uh with uh the homeless children primarily orphans and children that were you know living on the streets. Um I just I've always had a connection had a heart for it. Um not being brought up with a father myself I understood the power of mentorship. a lot of um things that were, you know, really breakthroughs in my life because of mentors that I had a chance to be supported by or worked with. Um kind of that substitute father, you know, figure.

[00:01:24]>> Um so I've always had that uh connection with um helping especially orphaned uh children. So over the course of years in Los Angeles, California, I'm originally from New Jersey uh and then New York City, of course, uh and then um moved over to the West Coast uh in California, then Nevada. Um worked with a Union Rescue Mission in uh California and then uh Three Square in uh Nevada. And we were feeding up to about 62 to 65,000 children a year. Wow. uh you know with three square meals and doing food drives and then of course occasia toy drives and other things. So uh it's something that's always been fulfilling for a lot of years. Um that kind of transferred over to Vietnam when I had u moved over here into Denying uh into Daang.

[00:02:13]>> Yeah. So when did you move to Daen?

[00:02:15]>> Um it's been just about 2 years now uh that I moved here. Originally started coming in 2017 before COVID on some vacations and exploration uh different countries. Um, and I love the culture, you know, the Vietnamese culture. They were so warm, so loving. Um, cost of living is amazing here as we all love.

[00:02:33]And then it's kind of like, you know, we've got this beautiful beach area. We have, you know, um, you know, a city that's, you know, growing and evolving.

[00:02:41]Uh, the government is coming becoming more accommodating, uh, for foreigners, foreign investments, uh, travel, uh, visas and things of this nature. So, it all kind of uh, flowed together over the course of the last few years. So, and then you decided to open this place, New York Graffiti Pizza. Is it >> Graffiti New York Pizza?

[00:03:00]>> It's Graffiti New York Pizza. Okay, my bad.

[00:03:03]>> So, uh, when did you do this and why?

[00:03:06]>> When? Okay, we're in our fifth month right now. So, we're really brand new.

[00:03:11]Um, we're just, you know, starting to get the word out. So, people can, um, find us, uh, you know, in Daang. And, um, first of all, I love pizza. That's that's definitely something. Who doesn't love a good pizza usually, right? What a great cheat meal, splurge meal. And um I uh I've always kind of had in the back of my mind maybe as a hobby business, you know, when you retire when I, you know, thought I would never want to do it for money or try to make a money. I mean, anybody who is really a great pizza in America, especially in New York City, uh they're doing it because they love it. It's not like there's a lot of money in in, you know, slinging pizzas and making pizzas, but they're they're artists, you know. They're doing it because they love it. They do it to see the smile on people's face when they're eating a great slice. Uh, so it's just been a passion. I've been a pizza afficionado for a lot of years. My first job ever was in Manhattan, New York City at Joe's Pizza on 76th Street and 1st Avenue when I was a kid delivering pizzas on a bicycle.

[00:04:06]>> Oh, that's so cool.

[00:04:07]>> So that was uh, you know, my very first job. And then just over the years, you know, most of my family is still in New Jersey. Um, amazing amazing pizzas in New Jersey and New York City as we know in America. And so, um, when I moved here, you know, it was kind of still, you know, as a as an idea, but I was kind of settling in and finding the houses where I wanted to live and looking at, you know, the visa situation and the corporate investment, you know, possibilities, uh, to get your TRC to live here, you know, permanently without having to do every 90-day visa round.

[00:04:39]Um, at the same time, uh, had this kind of idea percolating about possibly having a small business and making it nonprofit where it's never been done before that we're aware of in in um definitely were the first nonprofit 100% nonprofit uh, Graffiti New York Pizza in Daang as a restaurant.

[00:04:57]>> Wow. Yeah.

[00:04:58]>> And I didn't want to do the corporate like nonprofit structure where all the corporate execs were making a lot of money or getting big paychecks. Why don't we just keep it a small business structure, forget the politics, which I can't stand anyway, and then just give any profits each month to the local orphanages that were local here in Daong.

[00:05:14]>> So that's what I did. I believe simplicity works.

[00:05:17]>> Yeah. So 100% of the profits >> 100% of the profits uh go uh to the orphanages. Our books are transparent.

[00:05:24]So if there's ever a critic or something, we more than happy to show our books to anybody, which is super, you know, transparent for everybody to see what we do. Um because we're we're looking to expand, you know, if if anybody who's actually uh there's a lot of money around the world, I don't believe there's a lack of money or wealthy individuals that want to do philanthropy. We want to open in Ho Chi Min and Hanoi and Thailand and Cambodia and in Philippines um and have a brand that is feeding hundred hundreds of thousands of children every year >> uh through the you know the structure.

[00:05:56]And we've got training manuals, we've got our scripts, we have our systems that we're building, our recipe books, everything that we can duplicate, >> okay, >> ideally throughout the South Pacific, um, and hopefully attract other investors that have a big heart, which there's a lot of them out there actually. So, we'd love to hear from you.

[00:06:12]>> For sure. For sure. So, it's basically it's supposed to become a a big franchise for the good cause.

[00:06:18]>> Yeah. The vision >> to offer amazing Italian food, >> amazing amazing food. We bring in our tomatoes from Italy. Our cheese we bring in from Europe and Germany and France and Italy only. Unfortunately, I tried about 27 Italian restaurants and pizza restaurants uh here in Daong. There's there's quite a few >> and they didn't have the flavor I wanted. I mean, you know, best is always subjective. There's different styles of pizza. Neapolitan, there's deep dish, there's Detroit, there's, you know, New York pizza. Um, so there's, you know, a lot of different varieties here, but for the flavor that I liked best and for a lot of my, if I call them expat or foreign friends, they were like, >> you know, that was really bland compared to what I'm used to and what we're used to in New York City and what we're used to in America. So I said, what if I kind of had this idea, again, I wouldn't do it for money, but as a labor of love, what if we're to kind of create a restaurant that like the best tasting New York pizza in the entire country of Vietnam?

[00:07:19]>> Yeah, >> that's the goal. and we can afford to do importing ingredients that are a little bit more expensive if we're not trying to make a profit. Let's create a great brand with a great tasting pizza that's the best year of pizza in Vietnam. um give the profits that we do make which are going to be of course not fast coming uh here but then give them to the children to support you know our local orphanages and we're working you know with the Halang Bang Hope Village orphanage and the um Kongcha Pagod Temple orphanage that has no government support.

[00:07:50]>> Oh yeah. Okay.

[00:07:51]>> And so they are really in need. Yeah, >> they're super in need. So we have a great product that really attracts people for a great you know a great pizza.

[00:07:59]>> Yeah. I'm impressed that you get all the really the good quality, good tasting and ingredients from from Europe, right?

[00:08:08]And you put in all this effort to offer offer a great pizza or great pasta. And I can tell I'm spoiled. I'm I'm coming from Germany originally. We have lots of Italians living in Germany. They came over in the 70s >> um around that time and they opened a lot of Italian restaurants and they have this thin crust. It's It's so good. You guys have that, too. So, I'm I'm I'm really amazed. And I still have to try the meatballs and the pasta. I'm hearing so much.

[00:08:37]>> It's known on my grandmother's recipe for red sauce and the meatballs. So, I we're getting some great feedback and response over the last number of months since we introduced it. People are loving it. So, that's great.

[00:08:49]>> So, you're using the profits to support the orphanages. And what else are you doing besides the the the money part? I know you you're doing some >> well I we do different like right now um the Kungcha pagod temple is a Buddhist temple >> where sometimes babies are just left at the doorstep you know and the mothers abandon the children or there's some single mothers that are teenagers there that they were shamed shame is a big thing in the culture here uh because they got pregnant as a teenager and they got kicked out of their home and they're living on army cuts with this little thin pad and I mean you know down syndrome children are hair um and you know from 4 years old to 18 years old and uh it'll break your heart uh you know they have no government support and unfortunately we talk a lot about this within the the philanthropy community is that Vietnam like many of the South Pacific countries is such an impoverished community >> um that they don't do philanthropy work in general. I mean it's very very rare that individuals are doing uh any kind of help because they're so busy trying to survive themselves >> to do charity work is is a rare rare thing. So they really appreciate you know when people especially foreigners come in and contribute to the society to the children especially um and uh it's been incred not only it's fun it's fulfilling but I mean what more fun game to play in life you know so it's been super fun as well.

[00:10:16]>> Yeah. Oh that's amazing. And I understand you do um like you have volunteers helping you things. What about that?

[00:10:24]>> So we have like usually one event um a month. Uh usually it's some type of a food drive or you know we're donating uh the proceeds and typically what we do with those proceeds is we'll buy what the orphanage needs. We don't just kind of hand them money. what they prefer um which makes it easier for us too and there's more of a trust factor is if they need toothpaste and toothbrushes which is a big need sometimes or they need for example at the pagota uh temple they eat rice uh white rice and seaweed as their daily staple so u we did a pizza party as our first kind of big event I did a bicycle drive where we donated 25 bicycles cuz toys is something they don't have so that was super fun the kids were going crazy with bicycles with training wheels and >> and then food Uh we're doing um a big uh noodle drive is going to be happening at the end of this month, beginning of next month because noodles is a major luxury item, you know, for them to have like oh my gosh, to have, you know, some kind of a noodles. So, we're going to be doing with all the profits, buying these noodles next uh for uh their, you know, if you want to call it their weekly staple to add into with the rice and the seaweed um and then occasional, you know, some type of protein uh in there.

[00:11:33]They're vegetarian, so they do a lot of tofu as opposed to the meats at the uh Buddhist temple, which is where the children are living. And then buying them uniforms. They don't like clothing donations because they have a nice kind of like uniform that gives them a sense of pride. So they have more of a a temple uniform that the children get the chance to wear and it gives them more of a feeling of esteem and and uh it's it's a nice um nice portion of their of of of what they offer them at the temple. So things like that is what we do on a regular basis. uh depending on what they need, you know, we just ask them what what do you need next?

[00:12:06]>> And are you inviting um let's say foreigners?

[00:12:09]>> Yeah, volunteer.

[00:12:10]>> Absolutely. If anybody wants to volunteer, please send us an email at graffiti new york pizzagmail.com and we put you on a list uh to come volunteer with us once a month. We have 10 15 plus volunteers each month to you know come in, hand out the food, play with the children, hand out sometimes do a toy drive as well as a food drive.

[00:12:29]It's super fun work. So yes, graffiti new york [email protected]. Please send us an email.

[00:12:34]>> Yes, of course. We'll put that in the video description, right? And people also could contact you for other kinds of donations. I guess that would be fine as well or >> Yeah, typically what we do is we don't um we don't work I just for legal purposes and for ethics. Uh we don't work as a conduit for money. If somebody wants to do a financial donation, that's great. um I connect you with the manager or the head monk at the temple or the school and you'll do a direct you know transfer directly to them so we don't have to be a middleman with any kind of money but if you want to [clears throat] have your money go to food or for toys or whatever else we could facilitate you know the purchase of food or toys and things but we um keep it that way just for ethics and for integrity and people understand and really are confident their money is getting directly to the children.

[00:13:19]>> Perfect. And yeah, and the the easiest way is still to support the good cause, come in, come in here, enjoy >> the best pizza in town, >> and um and that's it. I mean, and don't be cheap. How much is a pizza in New York?

[00:13:37]>> Yeah, we >> a good pizza.

[00:13:38]>> A good pizza. I mean, well, it depends on which place you go to, but a good size like 16in uh pizza is typically $25 in New York City right now. Our pizzas are a little bit smaller. They're 14 in.

[00:13:50]Um, and uh, it's definitely getting some great fivestar reviews as far as flavor and taste. I I can't It's subjective and of course I'm biased of what I like.

[00:13:59][laughter] >> U, but yeah, we're only at like around $11 for this really nice size pizza we have as one size. And um, um, I say take the taste test yourself. Graffiti New York pizza challenge. We have, you know, you take it. You guys be the judge of what you think is the best New York pizza in Daang, Vietnam.

[00:14:16]>> I love that. and you be the judge, right?

[00:14:18]>> That's Yeah, that's a great offer. And I'll put your address. I'll I'll show the Google map where where your place is located here. And um yeah, it's it's very nice. It's a beautiful sunny day today almost as always in Daang.

[00:14:32]>> Just stop by, come over, say hi, >> and and and en enjoy um the good the good dishes here.

[00:14:39]>> That's right. And every pizza or entree, by the way, feeds one child for four full days. One pizza, one entree. for feeding a child for four full days. And that's one of the things that we worked out within our actual structure for the menu. So, um, not only is it reasonable, but it also feeds a child at 4 days just with one entree or pizza. So, >> help support the children.

[00:15:01]>> Yeah. And it gives you a good idea that it really the the money, the profit arrives at the children. It's helping the children in need. And um it's sad enough that they in the situation they are in having no parents, no no real support.

[00:15:16]>> Yeah.

[00:15:17]>> And um you're doing a great thing, man.

[00:15:19]So help you for your time.

[00:15:21]>> Thank you so much for the help. Thank you all your supporters of Graffiti New York Pizza and Denying. We appreciate your help and and support. Hope to see you soon.

[00:15:29]>> Couldn't have said it better. So thank you so much and um I'll see you soon here.

[00:15:35]>> New York pizza. Thanks, guys.

[00:15:36]>> Thank you, Rob.

[00:15:37]>> Hello. Welcome to gravity pizza. We are nonprofit restaurant and we uh donate all the profits for offer children in the name. So I am uh stand right here. I give you free sample pizza. If you have time and you come across you can try our pizza. [music] Thank you.

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