Lander Alum turns Idea into Booming Business
By Chuck Lawing
Gianpaolo Bonaca or Geep (pronounced Jeep) to his friends, graduated from Lander in 1994, taking as a career path – small business ownership. The idea for his business began in 2000 when he built a brick oven in his brickyard at Greenwoods Harris Mill Village neighborhood to honor his late father.
It was at a baby shower when Bonaca was cooking pizza for friends in his new brick oven when one of them said, “You should have a restaurant here”.
Even though the economy was as bad as it had been in 50 years, Bonaca and business partner Paul Bartolomeo purchased a vacant building on Maxwell Avenue and named it The Mill House. After opening in 2010 the business boomed, and Bonaca and Bartolomeo started buying adjoining properties, turning one of them into the Good Times brewery.
The business has continued to grow and the two businessmen announced last month that they will be opening a new business adjacent to Good Times Brewing in the not-too-distant future. Bonaca says it’s a win, win situation when it comes to his thriving business because he is doing what he loves and their customers are clearly happy with their products.
This was a really cool article. I really enjoyed reading it!
Good read. Never knew the owner was a Lander Alumni.
Good read. Like hearing about the successes of Lander alum, but also background info on a restaurant we all know!
Never knew that a Lander Alum was behind the success of the Mill House. Very cool to see driven students before me succeed with tools Lander provided. Good read!