Dayton is full of young entrepreneurs eager to take on riskier ventures and put in the necessary work to get them off the ground. Dain Peters is no exception. Peters, 22, is planning to open a Pita Pit at 1047 Brown St., Dayton.
Opening the Pita Pit will be the realization of a dream he has had since he was 12. He was born and raised in Washington and first ate at Pita Pit when he was 12. Since then, it has been his goal to open a Pita Pit. He moved to Dayton when he was 15, at which point Pita Pit had not come to Dayton yet. He graduated from Covington High School and decided to skip college to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions.
The space he is moving into will be next door to Bourbon Street Grill & Cafe. He is combining two separate spaces which once housed a Piercology, a jeweler and a salon. His store on Brown St. is close to both the University of Dayton and Premier Health – he hopes to attract customers from both.
Peters first inquired about becoming a franchisee of Pita Pit around two years ago. They told him how much it would cost and what was expected of a franchisee. He was already in the process of saving money to buy a franchise, and about a year later, he approached them again with the money to start. Pita Pit flew him out to their headquarters in Idaho and interviewed him.
“They liked my attitude more than anything. I have a good work ethic. They were impressed that I had stuck with it for a year and finally came up with the money,” said Peters. They gave him a call before his flight back home the next morning and gave him the go ahead. He found out then that he was going to be the youngest franchisee in America.
Peters comes from a long line of entrepreneurs. His grandfather worked at Hobart in Troy for 45 years. His twin uncles opened their own construction contracting business. “I guess it’s in our genes to work hard,” said Peters.
When WHIO shared a post on Facebook about him opening the store, he noticed a few comments remarking about him being a “silver-spoon baby.” He felt that could not be further from the truth. He saw those comments as defeatist. “I wish people knew that you don’t have to be a silver-spoon baby to work hard to realize your dreams,” Peters said.
The opening date of the Pita Pit is still up in the air. Construction is scheduled to be complete about a week or two before Christmas. Peters and the franchise are currently discussing whether they want to open a week before Christmas and the holidays or if they want to wait until after the holiday season to open. The store will open sometime from December to January, according to Peters.
