Before Carmela Diaz owned a restaurant in Plano, her customers came to her garage. When Diaz and her husband, Maurio, first moved to the city, they found themselves in a new neighborhood where many families were starting over. Carmela began inviting neighbors to cookouts and dinners around the kitchen table. Eventually, she started selling homemade Mexican food on weekends. It didn’t stay small for long.
“What I remember most is a few Saturday sales later, we opened the garage door and there was already a line down the driveway,” Carmela told Local Profile. “We had no idea it would turn into that.”
Today, the couple is bringing that same neighborhood-focused approach to Pizza Guys in Plano, taking over the location that opened as the California-based chain’s 100th restaurant in 2025.
From The Driveway To A Storefront
The couple said the idea of building something bigger emerged as customers returned weekend after weekend, often bringing friends with them. For Carmela, the lesson wasn’t only that people liked her food. It was that hospitality could turn a meal into a relationship.
“People don’t just want a good meal; they want to feel welcomed and the full red carpet experience,” she said.
Maurio saw the business potential. As lines grew and the couple sold out faster, they began discussing what a future in the food business could look like for their family.
They eventually explored several franchises before choosing Pizza Guys. When the opportunity arose to take over its Plano restaurant, the location carried additional significance: Plano was where the couple first put down roots after moving to Texas.
Photo: Carmela Diaz
Bringing The Same Hospitality Inside
Restaurant ownership comes with a much different operation than serving food from home. Carmela said one of her biggest adjustments has been learning to trust employees and systems rather than personally controlling every plate.
But the feeling she wants to create hasn’t changed.
“I try to bring that same spirit into the restaurant: knowing our regulars by name, asking about their families, making the counter feel less like a transaction and more like a conversation,” Diaz said.
Some of the people walking through the restaurant’s doors are already familiar faces. Maurio said neighbors who once lined up for their weekend food sales now drive as far as 30 minutes to visit them at Pizza Guys. For the couple, that’s a reminder that their restaurant story didn’t really begin with pizza. It started years earlier, with folding tables, homemade food and a line forming outside their Plano garage.
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